by Eleanor May ; illustrated by Deborah Melmon ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2015
Change is hard, but for those learning to be patient, Albert is a good guide.
The latest in the Mouse Math series both gets readers ready for the routines of school and hammers home the days of the week.
Albert is extremely excited about his first day of school. He is especially looking forward to paw painting, playing the piano, and feeding the class pet, all of which he’s heard about from his older sister, Wanda. So getting used to a fixed routine, when special activities take place on different days, is rather tough for him; Tuesday is art day, not Monday, and though he enjoys seeing a story told with puppets at library time, he still wants to paint. He gets to paint on Tuesday, but he can’t feed the fish whenever he wants—he has to wait for his turn, which is on Wednesday. And so it goes through the week, Albert always wishing he could do things whenever he wants to, as at home, but learning that school is different. But by Friday, Albert is showing a new student the ropes. Melmon’s bright, cheery cartoons are a nice introduction to the sights and activities of school, and almost every spread includes some visual display of the days of the week. Two pages of “Fun Activities” in the backmatter give adults ideas on how to extend the learning.
Change is hard, but for those learning to be patient, Albert is a good guide. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-157565-741-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kane Press
Review Posted Online: May 11, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
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More In The Series
by Eleanor May ; illustrated by Deborah Melmon
by Eleanor May ; illustrated by Deborah Melmon
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by Eleanor May ; illustrated by Deborah Melmon
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by Eleanor May ; illustrated by Deborah Melmon
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by Eleanor May ; illustrated by Deborah Melmon
by Jimmy Fallon ; illustrated by Miguel Ordóñez ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 9, 2015
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it.
A succession of animal dads do their best to teach their young to say “Dada” in this picture-book vehicle for Fallon.
A grumpy bull says, “DADA!”; his calf moos back. A sad-looking ram insists, “DADA!”; his lamb baas back. A duck, a bee, a dog, a rabbit, a cat, a mouse, a donkey, a pig, a frog, a rooster, and a horse all fail similarly, spread by spread. A final two-spread sequence finds all of the animals arrayed across the pages, dads on the verso and children on the recto. All the text prior to this point has been either iterations of “Dada” or animal sounds in dialogue bubbles; here, narrative text states, “Now everybody get in line, let’s say it together one more time….” Upon the turn of the page, the animal dads gaze round-eyed as their young across the gutter all cry, “DADA!” (except the duckling, who says, “quack”). Ordóñez's illustrations have a bland, digital look, compositions hardly varying with the characters, although the pastel-colored backgrounds change. The punch line fails from a design standpoint, as the sudden, single-bubble chorus of “DADA” appears to be emanating from background features rather than the baby animals’ mouths (only some of which, on close inspection, appear to be open). It also fails to be funny.
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 9, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-250-00934-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
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by Jimmy Fallon & Jennifer Lopez ; illustrated by Andrea Campos
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SEEN & HEARD
by George Shannon ; illustrated by Blanca Gómez ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 26, 2015
A visually striking, engaging picture book that sends the message that everyone counts.
A playful counting book also acts as a celebration of family and human diversity.
Shannon’s text is delivered in spare, rhythmic, lilting verse that begins with one and counts up to 10 as it presents different groupings of things and people in individual families, always emphasizing the unitary nature of each combination. “One is six. One line of laundry. One butterfly’s legs. One family.” Gomez’s richly colored pictures clarify and expand on all that the text lists: For “six,” a picture showing six members of a multigenerational family of color includes a line of laundry with six items hanging from it outside of their windows, as well as the painting of a six-legged butterfly that a child in the family is creating. While text never directs the art to depict diverse individuals and family constellations, Gomez does just this in her illustrations. Interracial families are included, as are depictions of men with their arms around each other, and a Sikh man wearing a turban. This inclusive spirit supports the text’s culminating assertion that “One is one and everyone. One earth. One world. One family.”
A visually striking, engaging picture book that sends the message that everyone counts. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: May 26, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-374-30003-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Frances Foster/Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2015
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by George Shannon ; illustrated by Jennifer K. Mann
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by George Shannon ; illustrated by Mark Fearing
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by George Shannon ; illustrated by Julie Paschkis
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