As the trend of picture books praising the codex continues, few will match the light tone, originality and quirkiness of...
Clever text and mixed-media artwork use the procedure of baking a cake as an obvious, comical metaphor for the process of creating a book.
The cartoonlike girl, whose blonde hair sports barrettes made of alphabet letters and punctuation marks, narrates in little rhymes that dance across the pages. “I am going to bake a book!” proclaims the verso in bold lettering between a rack of dangling utensils, flashcards and paper dolls above and a colorful clutter of art, writing and baking accessories below. On the recto, the girl’s face stares intently but happily above a mixing bowl that holds scraps of childlike artwork and bits of scribbled-on notebook paper. Her small hands grasp two sides of an enormous egg that apparently let loose the scraps. Curving above and parallel to the arc of the girl’s chair is written “I’ll break some ideas into a cup. / I’ll beat them, whisk them, mix them up.” All the elements of good storytelling—plot, characters, vocabulary and more—are included in subsequent pages bursting with color and excitement. The rhyme, rhythm and intricate artwork will keep the youngest readers interested, while beginning readers will understand the humor and enjoy searching for extra words inside the artwork.
As the trend of picture books praising the codex continues, few will match the light tone, originality and quirkiness of this one. (Picture book. 2-7)Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4926-0651-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own...
The sturdy Little Blue Truck is back for his third adventure, this time delivering Christmas trees to his band of animal pals.
The truck is decked out for the season with a Christmas wreath that suggests a nose between headlights acting as eyeballs. Little Blue loads up with trees at Toad’s Trees, where five trees are marked with numbered tags. These five trees are counted and arithmetically manipulated in various ways throughout the rhyming story as they are dropped off one by one to Little Blue’s friends. The final tree is reserved for the truck’s own use at his garage home, where he is welcomed back by the tree salestoad in a neatly circular fashion. The last tree is already decorated, and Little Blue gets a surprise along with readers, as tiny lights embedded in the illustrations sparkle for a few seconds when the last page is turned. Though it’s a gimmick, it’s a pleasant surprise, and it fits with the retro atmosphere of the snowy country scenes. The short, rhyming text is accented with colored highlights, red for the animal sounds and bright green for the numerical words in the Christmas-tree countdown.
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own tree that will put a twinkle in a toddler’s eyes. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-32041-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A bit predictable but pleasantly illustrated.
Bill Martin Jr and John Archambault’s classic alphabet book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (1989) gets the Halloween treatment.
Chung follows the original formula to the letter. In alphabetical order, each letter climbs to the top of a tree. They are knocked back to the ground in a jumble before climbing up in sequence again. In homage to the spooky holiday theme, they scale a “creaky old tree,” and a ghostly jump scare causes the pileup. The chunky, colorful art is instantly recognizable. The charmingly costumed letters (“H swings a tail. / I wears a patch. J and K don / bows that don’t match”) are set against a dark backdrop, framed by pages with orange or purple borders. The spreads feature spiderwebs and jack-o’-lanterns. The familiar rhyme cadence is marred by the occasional clunky or awkward phrase; in particular, the adapted refrain of “Chicka chicka tricka treat” offers tongue-twisting fun, but it’s repeatedly followed by the disappointing half-rhyme “Everybody sneaka sneak.” Even this odd construction feels shoehorned into place, since “sneaking” makes little sense when every character in the book is climbing together. The final line of the book ends on a more satisfying note, with “Everybody—time to eat!”
A bit predictable but pleasantly illustrated. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: July 15, 2025
ISBN: 9781665954785
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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