A well-designed and likable addition to the hefty field of picture books for young fans of useful heavy machinery and trucks.
John Deere tractors show their multipurpose usefulness in this continuation of a picture-book series for young children.
Picture books about heavy machinery, construction equipment, big trucks, and tractors are hardly in short supply, but considering the genre’s avid young fan base, there’s always room for one more. With engaging simplicity, nonfiction author Gebhart (2 Lives in 3 Acts, 2017, etc.) offers a crisply photographed tribute to the venerable John Deere tractor for children in the pre-K to early-elementary range. Following the formula of his previous celebrations of heavy machinery brands Caterpillar and Bobcat, Gebhart introduces the John Deere tractor as “him,” again personalizing a utilitarian vehicle for his young audience as he did with “Bob” the Bobcat and “CAT” the Caterpillar. Rather than a story narrative, however, children are treated to photographs of Deere models (one with treads, one with wheels) in action, equipped variously with drills, rollers, forklifts, a snowplow, excavators, and loaders. The photographs, mostly taken under blue skies and shot on farms, construction sites, and other outdoor areas, are centered on the top half of each page. The eye-pleasing design includes captions beneath the images with simple descriptions of the actions shown (“Deere lifts a concrete block,” “Deere plants a Christmas tree,” “Deere pours stones”). There is also a shot of the tractor’s control center interior (“What Deere looks like inside”). For the most part, tractor operators are glimpsed through the vehicles’ windows, although two captions refer to human “help.” One says, “Deere gets help on a farm,” but because the driver is only dimly seen, the caption’s meaning could be clearer. The second “help” photo shows a tractor operator and other workers front and center, and the context is plain to see—as is this book’s overall appeal for pint-sized enthusiasts.
A well-designed and likable addition to the hefty field of picture books for young fans of useful heavy machinery and trucks.Pub Date: March 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5447-8860-9
Page Count: 24
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The seemingly ageless Seeger brings back his renowned giant for another go in a tuneful tale that, like the art, is a bit sketchy, but chockful of worthy messages. Faced with yearly floods and droughts since they’ve cut down all their trees, the townsfolk decide to build a dam—but the project is stymied by a boulder that is too huge to move. Call on Abiyoyo, suggests the granddaughter of the man with the magic wand, then just “Zoop Zoop” him away again. But the rock that Abiyoyo obligingly flings aside smashes the wand. How to avoid Abiyoyo’s destruction now? Sing the monster to sleep, then make it a peaceful, tree-planting member of the community, of course. Seeger sums it up in a postscript: “every community must learn to manage its giants.” Hays, who illustrated the original (1986), creates colorful, if unfinished-looking, scenes featuring a notably multicultural human cast and a towering Cubist fantasy of a giant. The song, based on a Xhosa lullaby, still has that hard-to-resist sing-along potential, and the themes of waging peace, collective action, and the benefits of sound ecological practices are presented in ways that children will both appreciate and enjoy. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-83271-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2001
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