A clever, positive take on nutrition that offers pleasant advice and entertaining illustrations without the usual...
In this very short debut guide to fruits and vegetables, Lee offers a colorful way for kids to track their healthy eating.
A host of vegetables address young readers directly in this children’s picture book, recommending that they eat five colors of fruits and vegetables every day, along with meat, fish, bread and milk. On each page, representatives from each color group—red, orange, green, blue/purple and white—explain what makes them special. A tomato, a beet and kidney beans, accompanied by a strawberry and a slice of watermelon, explain that red fruits and vegetables help keep both children and adults healthy. Cabbage, along with green peas, spinach and other foods, claim that green vegetables are good for the eyes and give kids energy. An eggplant instructs a plum, blackberries and grapes on how blue and purple fruits and vegetables enhance memory. Carrots and sweet potatoes, along with their similarly hued fruit friends, suggest that orange fruits and vegetables help build strong bones and teeth, improve the skin and eyes, and may help cuts heal. For the white group, onion and garlic celebrate how they help other foods taste better and keep the heart healthy. There are some missing elements here—including peppers, which come in several colors, and a page for the color yellow, which might have included bananas and squash. A note for parents might have helped explain why certain foods are not mentioned, and what vitamins are associated with each color group. However, Bean’s cartoonish illustrations, featuring vegetables with faces, colored in polka dots, stripes, checks and other patterns, will draw children’s eyes, and an activity to find the tomatoes in a lettuce patch will entertain young readers. An easy-to-photocopy chart could easily go on the refrigerator to help children track the colors they eat every day of the week.
A clever, positive take on nutrition that offers pleasant advice and entertaining illustrations without the usual admonitions to avoid unhealthy foods.Pub Date: Nov. 18, 2012
ISBN: 978-1412076746
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Trafford
Review Posted Online: March 21, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This should send Dark Knight fans flying to the Batcave—or the bedroom.
Holy bedtime, Batman!
In a sleepy-looking neighborhood under a dusky cerulean sky, a young, brown-haired, white boy goes through the motions of getting ready for bed: he brushes his teeth, takes a bath, picks up his toys, and feeds his fish. In a parallel visual narrative, beckoned by the cat's-eye–yellow bat-signal, Batman keeps Gotham safe for another night by catching crooks, locking them away, and avenging those who have been wronged. Though the two characters are quite different, through a carefully flexible narrative, Dahl and Beavers weave a convincing tale of just how similar they might be. “It’s time to take care of business” describes the child’s trip to the potty and Batman’s dive down a manhole equally well, for instance. Beavers' art is visually striking and vibrantly hued, perfect for keeping young eyes glued to each page. Dahl's economical text is cadenced with a gentle lilt, just right for a bedtime read-aloud. Young fans of the caped crusader will delight in spying their favorite characters. In the already-overstuffed bedtime-book market, this is certainly a niche read, but it hits its mark well, delivering fun without darkness. A “bedtime checklist” at the end aptly includes “story time.”
This should send Dark Knight fans flying to the Batcave—or the bedroom. (Picture book. 3-8)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-62370-732-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Capstone Young Readers
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A nice but not requisite purchase.
A retelling of the classic fairy tale in board-book format and with a Mexican setting.
Though simplified for a younger audience, the text still relates the well-known tale: mean-spirited stepmother, spoiled stepsisters, overworked Cinderella, fairy godmother, glass slipper, charming prince, and, of course, happily-ever-after. What gives this book its flavor is the artwork. Within its Mexican setting, the characters are olive-skinned and dark-haired. Cultural references abound, as when a messenger comes carrying a banner announcing a “FIESTA” in beautiful papel picado. Cinderella is the picture of beauty, with her hair up in ribbons and flowers and her typically Mexican many-layered white dress. The companion volume, Snow White, set in Japan and illustrated by Misa Saburi, follows the same format. The simplified text tells the story of the beautiful princess sent to the forest by her wicked stepmother to be “done away with,” the dwarves that take her in, and, eventually, the happily-ever-after ending. Here too, what gives the book its flavor is the artwork. The characters wear traditional clothing, and the dwarves’ house has the requisite shoji screens, tatami mats and cherry blossoms in the garden. The puzzling question is, why the board-book presentation? Though the text is simplified, it’s still beyond the board-book audience, and the illustrations deserve full-size books.
A nice but not requisite purchase. (Board book/fairy tale. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-7915-8
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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