Joyful and sweet. (Picture book. 2-5)
A celebration of the joys brought by each month of the year as seen through the eyes of a young child.
From January through December, there is always something to love. January is for tromping through the forest, February for drinking hot chocolate, March for blowing out birthday candles, June for zooming in a race car, and October for hiding behind a pumpkin. A delightfully depicted chubby-cheeked boy and his faithful cat enjoy it all, pictures both providing additional details and developing an ebullient mood. Each month is celebrated in a two-page spread, charmingly illustrated in color pencils on Mylar paper with a resulting soft and somewhat blurry feel. In January, the child wears a red snowsuit with blue hat and mittens, happily snowshoeing while his cat watches from the window; in June, he pedals a tricycle (his “little race car”) as the cat follows behind; in December, he’s back in his snowsuit for some skating, and his cat poses with the hat over her face. Originally published in French, the terse, poetic text evokes the different months in language a young child can easily relate to: in July, “I am so light I can fly, but I have no wings! / The water tickles my hair. / I swim upside down, my toes in the air.”
Joyful and sweet. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Aug. 11, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-55498-411-4
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 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
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
Ideal for any community where children count.
A difficult concept is simply and strikingly illustrated for the very youngest members of any community, with a counting exercise to boot.
From the opening invitation, “Living in community, / it's a lot of FUN! / Lets count the ways. / Lets start with ONE,” Nagaro shows an urban community that is multicultural, supportive, and happy—exactly like the neighborhoods that many families choose to live and raise their children in. Text on every other page rhymes unobtrusively. Unlike the vocabulary found in A Is for Activist (2013), this book’s is entirely age-appropriate (though some parents might not agree that picketing is a way to show “that we care”). In A Is for Activist, a cat was hidden on each page; this time, finding the duck is the game. Counting is almost peripheral to the message. On the page with “Seven bikes and scooters and helmets to share,” identifying toys in an artistic heap is confusing. There is only one helmet for five toys, unless you count the second helmet worn by the girl riding a scooter—but then there are eight items, not seven. Seven helmets and seven toys would have been clearer. That quibble aside, Nagara's graphic design skills are evident, with deep colors, interesting angles, and strong lines, in a mix of digital collage and ink.
Ideal for any community where children count. (Board book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-60980-632-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Triangle Square Books for Young Readers
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
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