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A DAY WITH DOGS

WHAT DO DOGS DO ALL DAY?

These pooches get a lot done in a day, and toddlers who follow along will effortlessly pick up some vocabulary to boot.

A ride through Richard Scarry territory with a canine cast.

Echoing Scarry’s larger-format panoramas, de Monfreid scatters nine doggy housemates over an encyclopedic series of scenes that are drawn in very simple cartoon style, decked out with identifying labels, and usually viewed from an elevated perspective. Between a morning “At Home” and a final “Night,” the dogs dress, go to town, to school, and the doctor’s; spend some time in the country on a farm; play games and sports in four seasons (on one double-page spread); stock up at the supermarket; and finally come back home for dinner and bedtime. Interspersed among these stops are encounters with the alphabet and numbers one to 11, plus galleries of land and sea creatures, fruits and vegetables, vehicles, and select occupations from “Vet” to “Cowgirl.” The dogs, all of assorted but mostly identifiable breeds, are indeterminate of age and, usually, sex. Aside from rare glimpses of a computer and a flat-screen TV, the world on display could be from Scarry’s era—except that (with a few slips: “Fisherman,” “Snowman”) the sexist language and ethnic stereotyping are absent.

These pooches get a lot done in a day, and toddlers who follow along will effortlessly pick up some vocabulary to boot. (Picture book. 2-4)

Pub Date: March 1, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-7765-7098-0

Page Count: 64

Publisher: Gecko Press

Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2016

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TEN ON A TWIG

Who knew that turning the pages could be the best part of a book?

Counting down one by one, 10 birds fall off a branch.

The concept of this picture book is simple enough: 10 birds topple, slip, and dive their way off the titular twig until there is one left. The text itself echoes familiar singsong-y children’s rhymes like “Five Little Pumpkins.” While it mostly succeeds, there are some awkward spots: “5 on a twig, there used to be more… / SNAP! Don’t say a word, now there are four.” (On each page the number is both spelled out and represented as a numeral). The real scene stealer, however, is the book’s interplay between Cole’s illustrations and the physical pages themselves. In much the same way Eric Carle utilizes the pages in The Very Hungry Caterpillar to show the little critter eating its way through the week, Cole uses pages of increasing width to show how the twig grows shorter as each bird falls and marches off purposefully with the others, all headed toward verso with pieces of twig in their beaks. Stylistically, the book is captivating. The very colorful, egg-shaped birds appear on a single, thin black line on a stark white background. This backdrop stands in powerful contrast to the book’s final two pages, which are set against black negative space, a theme echoed in the book’s feather-print endpapers. The heavy, thick pages make it easy for little hands to participate. The text takes a back seat to the playful and compelling design, which is sure to delight readers.

Who knew that turning the pages could be the best part of a book? (Picture book. 2-4)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-72821-593-8

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky

Review Posted Online: July 13, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2020

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COUNTABLOCK

From the Block Books series

An inventive and extensive counting experience that will delight youngsters.

Shaped pages help youngsters count to 10 and beyond.

Two stylish double-page spreads are devoted to each number one through 10 and then, counting by 10s, to 100. In the first spread, the right-hand side is a page-high, die-cut numeral that spills off the page; to its left, a squirrel holds an acorn. With the turn of the page, there’s a transformation. “One acorn becomes… / one oak tree!” A portion of the object, animal or person being altered is visible through the die-cut openings; a sand castle peeks through the “0” of the number 10, for instance. Once the page is turned, the background from the previous left-hand page merges with the full double-page spread. As in the earlier Alphablock (2013), the helpfulness of these visual hints is uneven. After 10, 20 caterpillars become 20 butterflies, 30 baskets of cucumbers become 30 jars of pickles, and 40 eggs become 39 chicks and one dinosaur. The whole shebang ends with 100 puzzle pieces fitting together into “one big puzzle!” in the book’s only double gatefold. Peskimo’s muted color palette and droll cartoon style works well with the playful concept. The same worries about the binding that arose with Alphablock are an issue here, but the conceit will likely appeal to older children anyway.

An inventive and extensive counting experience that will delight youngsters. (Board book. 2-4)

Pub Date: Aug. 5, 2014

ISBN: 978-1-4197-1374-3

Page Count: 94

Publisher: Abrams Appleseed

Review Posted Online: July 28, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015

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