A B SEE

Name: A B SEE
Author: Elizabeth Doyle
ISBN: 978-1-4814-3699-1

by Elizabeth Doyle ; illustrated by Elizabeth Doyle ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 21, 2015

While the tiny images will make this a challenge for young babies, the large number of objects to identify means they will...

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Hundreds of tiny, subtly raised images to study and name make a lovely, tactile alphabet book that can be enjoyed far longer than most ABC books.

Each letter, formed by arranging several embossed pictures of related objects together in the shape of a large block capital, is presented with one line of text according to a simple formula. A creature is doing something with (or to) an item with the same initial letter. So, “Alligator admires an apple.” The alligator and apple are prominent in the letter design, but 33 other “A” items are also embedded in the capital A: accordion, artwork, alarm clock, Africa, anemone, etc. This device is repeated for each letter, with most letters occupying an entire page. D and E, H and I, M and N, and U and V share pages; the already-tiny embedded images are even smaller for those letters; there appears to be no logic to this forcing letters onto shared pages beyond, possibly, a budgetary one. Adding eight more pages would have made for a far more elegant book. All the letters are repeated on a double-page spread at the end of the book. The final six pages list all the objects included in each letter design.

While the tiny images will make this a challenge for young babies, the large number of objects to identify means they will return to it again and again as their vocabularies expand. (Board book. 1-4)

Pub Date: July 21, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-4814-3699-1

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: Sept. 15, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS

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EIGHT JOLLY REINDEER

by Ilanit Oliver ; illustrated by Jacqueline Rogers ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 10, 2014

As with many holiday gifts, the sparkly packaging may interest toddlers more than what’s inside.

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Readers can count down eight of Santa's reindeer as they jump up and out of the scene.

In each one of the mostly double-page spreads, one reindeer, from Dasher to Blitzen, plays a central role in a winter activity (sledding, ski jumping, ice skating—and soccer and yoga?) that launches the creature into the air. Glitter-speckled tabs, each with small portraits of a member of Santa's herd, appear at either the top or the right side of each page, which little fingers will enjoy flipping. In what looks to be pencil-and-watercolor cartoons, Rogers uses different facial expressions, as well as collars, bows or other accessories, to distinguish the reindeer from one another. Donner (not Donder) and Blitzen are squeezed together on the penultimate spread, likely to keep the page count down. The verse mostly scans, but the rhyme scheme has become the cliché of counting books: "Eight jolly reindeer / stretching up to heaven. / Up goes Dasher / and then there are... // Seven...." Santa, his iconic sleigh and the eight reindeer in flight make a dramatic and required appearance on the book's final double-page spread.

As with many holiday gifts, the sparkly packaging may interest toddlers more than what’s inside. (Board book. 1-3)

Pub Date: Aug. 10, 2014

ISBN: 978-0-545-65145-5

Page Count: 16

Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic

Review Posted Online: Sept. 2, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS

- BOOK REVIEW
ARE YOU MY DADDY?
by Ilanit Oliver ; illustrated by Guy Parker-Rees

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HELLO ROBOTS!

From the Hello…! series

by Joan Holub ; illustrated by Chris Dickason ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 22, 2019

Good for a giggle from preschool readers despite its slight imperfections.

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A brightly illustrated story told in rhyme about mixed-up robots getting ready for the day.

Holub and Dickason team up for another title echoing the style of their similarly formatted Hello Knights! and Hello Ninjas! (both 2018). Here, the titular robots are having trouble getting ready for the day. They put socks on top of shoes and even forget how to eat their cereal, pouring milk on their heads and flipping their bowls upside down on the table. The confusion comes to a climax in a double gatefold in which the robots realize that they need a reboot, correcting their routines. Young readers will delight in the silliness: underpants on heads, bathing in clothes. Holub’s rhyming text works well for the most part and includes some charming turns of phrase, such as “brushing bolts” in place of brushing teeth. Dickason’s illustrations use a consistent palette of mostly primary colors and feature 1960s-style robots drawn with antennae, motherboards on boxy chests, and wheels for feet. The pages are busy and packed, allowing for new discoveries upon each read, though this busyness argues for use with older toddlers. It’s not entirely clear where the robots are headed (school?) or whether or not they’re also ETs (they fly away on a spaceship), but the story is fun enough to overlook those muddled details.

Good for a giggle from preschool readers despite its slight imperfections. (Board book. 2-4)