Likely to miss its intended audience—but may find another.
A quartet of crawlers in eyeglasses and onesies gets the lowdown on weather.
Following up Space and Ocean (both 2019) in the Nerdy Babies series, Kastner breezes through a broad range of often complex meteorological topics, from rain, snow, and hail (“Precipitation!”) to select types of clouds, thunder and lightning, and the difference between “weather” and “climate.” How much of this the multiracial set of precocious toddlers on view (“The wind has socks?” asks one. “Kind of!” answers another) or the actual rug rats they supposedly represent will absorb is questionable. However, putting the information out there does at least make it available to caregivers, and the author’s repeated appeals to be, and stay, curious about the world is a worthy message for everyone. In a companion volume, Rocks, she makes the same plea while chipping away at the three types of rocks, geological formations, the rock cycle, and (without actually using the term, which is odd in a discourse featuring terms like “metamorphic” and “stalagmite”) plate tectonics. The “nerd” glasses are a cute, if stereotypical, conceit, but the babies are winningly expressive, and aside from a strangely drab rainbow in Weather, the illustrations add washes of bright color. Both titles are available in board editions, enabling caregivers to share them with an audience even less likely to understand them.
Likely to miss its intended audience—but may find another. (Informational picture book. 2-6)Pub Date: May 5, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-31231-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
A cheery board book to reinforce the oneness of babykind.
Ten babies in 10 countries greet friends in almost 10 languages.
Countries of origin are subtly identified. For example, on the first spread, NYC is emblazoned on a blond, white baby’s hat as well as a brown baby’s scoot-car taxi. On the next spread, “Mexico City” is written on a light brown toddler’s bike. A flag in each illustration provides another hint. However, the languages are not named, so on first reading, the fine but important differences between Spanish and Portuguese are easily missed. This is also a problem on pages showing transliterated Arabic from Cairo and Afrikaans from Cape Town. Similarly, Chinese and Japanese are transliterated, without use of traditional hànzì or kanji characters. British English is treated as a separate language, though it is, after all, still English. French (spoken by 67 million people) is included, but German, Russian, and Hindi (spoken by 101 million, 145 million, and 370 million respectively) are not. English translations are included in a slightly smaller font. This world survey comes full circle, ending in San Francisco with a beige baby sleeping in an equally beige parent’s arms. The message of diversity is reinforced by images of three babies—one light brown, one medium brown, one white—in windows on the final spread.
A cheery board book to reinforce the oneness of babykind. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: April 4, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-938093-87-6
Page Count: 20
Publisher: Duo Press
Review Posted Online: April 25, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A clever conceit but a bland execution.
In this minimalist Australian import, readers are encouraged to guess animals based on select written and visual clues.
On each recto, readers see the hindquarters of an animal, and three simple clues ask them to guess what kind of animal they may belong to. “I have long furry ears and a small nose. / I live in a burrow in the ground. / I have a white fluffy tail. / I AM A….” The splashy watercolor rear legs and tail are ambiguous enough that they may have readers second-guessing the obvious answer. Turning the page, however, readers discover both the well-defined front half of the animal and the animal’s name: “RABBIT.” Canty uses stock 19th-century animal illustrations layered with watercolor enhancements, creating a somber yet surprising tone. Two tailless animals, a frog and human readers, are included in the roster, making the “tails” referenced in the title symbolic rather than literal. Two red herrings, the image of a mouse between the clues for and image of an elephant and (inexplicably) a squirrel leading to a giraffe, fall flat, with no other cues to young readers that they are jokes. The quirky illustrations, earthy colors, and lack of exhibited enthusiasm will make this book’s audience a niche one. There is no backmatter.
A clever conceit but a bland execution. (Informational picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Oct. 23, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0033-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 29, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
