by Elizabeth Spurr ; illustrated by Manelle Oliphant ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2018
Put on your slicker and boots. It’s time for a rainy-day romp! (Board book. 18 mos.-3)
The few well-chosen words in this charming board book go straight to the crux of the action shown in the realistic watercolor illustrations.
Unobtrusive rhymes on every other page flow easily off the tongue. The simple, direct language mirrors language patterns of very young children, with one clear idea per page. One stanza says, “Water flows. / Make a boat. // Sail in stream. / Off it floats.” Accompanying pictures of a gutter downspout, a leaf boat, and the rivulet made by water from the gutter hint at details to come and will inspire conversation and simple science explorations. Is the water coming from the rain or from the garden hose lying in the grass? And who will use that hose later? Muted colors match the rainy day until the sun breaking through the clouds reveals a brilliant rainbow that fades at dusk. Where exactly all this takes place is open to interpretation. It could be a modest city neighborhood, a suburb, or a small town. What matters is that this bit of nature is right outside this young black girl’s home. Her glee as she stomps in puddles with her dog is palpable. That her mother seems to share her delight is refreshing.
Put on your slicker and boots. It’s time for a rainy-day romp! (Board book. 18 mos.-3)Pub Date: March 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-56145-853-0
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
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by Elizabeth Spurr ; illustrated by Manelle Oliphant
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by Elizabeth Spurr ; illustrated by Manelle Oliphant
by Jan Gerardi ; illustrated by Jan Gerardi ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 22, 2013
A well-meant miss.
A little boy takes an active role in recycling and reusing in this lift-the-flap tale.
The boy, along with a couple of young friends, demonstrates cleaning and sorting recyclables, donating unwanted clothes and toys, and reusing other materials for various projects. While this is a noble effort, the rhyming text, which appears on the outside of and under each flap, does not scan well: “Clink, clink, clink. Into each bin– / BOTTLES, / PAPER, / PLASTIC, / TIN.” Some of the concepts above and below each flap have a clear relationship to one another: A large cardboard box is empty above the flap and reused as a toy boat below the flap. Other concepts do not connect quite as well: The plastic (above the flap) and “tin” cans (under the flap) look to be going into the same bin, but the next page shows them carefully sorted into their own separate bins. The cover may also confuse little ones, and a few grown-ups too, since it mostly shows materials to be reused (toys and clothes to be donated), not recycled. The flat, friendly and soft-hued cartoons look to be a mix of digital art over collaged backgrounds of reused materials. Other titles in the Teenie Greenies series, which are printed on recycled paper with soy ink, tackle gardening, composting and transportation alternatives with greater clarity.
A well-meant miss. (Board book. 2-3)Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-375-86172-7
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: April 9, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2013
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by David Zeltser ; illustrated by Jan Gerardi
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by Jan Gerardi & illustrated by Jan Gerardi
by Kingfisher ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 30, 2013
With short facts about pigs, chickens, cattle, horses and more, there is just enough to be of interest to the youngest...
This introduction to farm life includes a cover of layered, bubble-shaped pages of various sizes, each with an image of a farm animal peeking through.
Once a page is turned, bright stock photos of livestock, working animals and even the farmer appear in the inside. A heading introduces them (such as “In the field” for the page about sheep), and one or two simple facts are shared (“Woolly sheep roam the grassy fields”). The creatures themselves provide additional and more specific information via speech bubbles (“A baby sheep is called a lamb,” a lamb confides). One section of each spread still retains the image that is visible from the cover and hints at what is coming next on the verso. This iteration of the Seek and Peek gimmick of shaped pages is more successful than others in the series such At the Zoo, In the Rainforest and Dinosaurs, with their confusing layouts. Here, the strong background color of each spread helps differentiate the information in question from the images of things to come. The last double-page spread shows a tractor and a combine harvester and shares a couple of tidbits about farmyard machinery. The novel format will make it difficult for spine-out shelving in libraries and elsewhere.
With short facts about pigs, chickens, cattle, horses and more, there is just enough to be of interest to the youngest animal enthusiast. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: July 30, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7534-6940-8
Page Count: 8
Publisher: Kingfisher
Review Posted Online: Aug. 20, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2014
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by Kingfisher
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