Onyefulu stresses the similarities between kids in Africa and those in Britain or the United States in very simple language,...
Buying new shoes is a peak experience for many little girls, but selecting shoes for a wedding takes the cake.
Helen, an Ethiopian preschooler, tries on several pairs of shoes in bright colors: red patent-leather Mary Janes, yellow thongs, shiny black pumps with bows and brown sandals with shell decorations. She isn’t satisfied until she takes a trip to the market with her mother and brother. There, Helen finds her dream shoes, intense turquoise, with rhinestone embellishments. While some adults may look askance at the child’s choice, she is convinced that they will look just right for her auntie’s wedding. The photos of middle-class urban life are a sharp and welcome contrast to many images of East Africa, but they suffer from drab design: The thin pinkish frames surrounding them don’t provide distinctive contrast from the generous white borders. Meant for the youngest readers, such lines as “Will Helen ever find the shoes she likes?” or “Lucky Helen!” sound stilted. All in all, this effort lacks the excitement of the author’s photo essays set in Nigeria, making this an additional choice for those looking for easy books about different countries.
Onyefulu stresses the similarities between kids in Africa and those in Britain or the United States in very simple language, but the quotidian treatment doesn't give the subject enough pizzazz. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-84780-128-9
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Frances Lincoln
Review Posted Online: Sept. 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2011
It’s a bit hard to dance, or count, to this beat.
Dinos that love to move and groove get children counting from one to 10—and perhaps moving to the beat.
Beginning with a solo bop by a female dino (she has eyelashes, doncha know), the dinosaur dance party begins. Each turn of the page adds another dino and a change in the dance genre: waltz, country line dancing, disco, limbo, square dancing, hip-hop, and swing. As the party would be incomplete without the moonwalk, the T. Rex does the honors…and once they are beyond their initial panic at his appearance, the onlookers cheer wildly. The repeated refrain on each spread allows for audience participation, though it doesn’t easily trip off the tongue: “They hear a swish. / What’s this? / One more? / One more dino on the floor.” Some of the prehistoric beasts are easily identifiable—pterodactyl, ankylosaurus, triceratops—but others will be known only to the dino-obsessed; none are identified, other than T-Rex. Packed spreads filled with psychedelically colored dinos sporting blocks of color, stripes, or polka dots (and infectious looks of joy) make identification even more difficult, to say nothing of counting them. Indeed, this fails as a counting primer: there are extra animals (and sometimes a grumpy T-Rex) in the backgrounds, and the next dino to join the party pokes its head into the frame on the page before. Besides all that, most kids won’t get the dance references.
It’s a bit hard to dance, or count, to this beat. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8075-1598-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2016
A sweet and subtle book on sharing.
Rudy’s pink sweater is missing. Readers are invited to follow him as he searches for the sweater.
Rudy is a blue creature with a piggy snout, bunny ears, a thin, tufted tail, and a distraught look on his face. His beloved pink sweater is gone. “It was a bit too small and showed his belly button. But it was his favorite.” Where could it be? In a search that doubles as a countdown from 10 to one, Rudy makes his way through the different rooms of the house—top to bottom, inside and outside. As readers open the wardrobe door, “TEN tumbling cats” provide the first hint as to the sweater’s whereabouts. Following the pink yarn that runs across the pages, readers encounter some surprising creatures in each location—including a crocodile sitting in an outhouse busily knitting—as well as flaps to open and die cuts to peek through. Just as he’s about to give up hope—someone must’ve taken it, but “who would love wearing it as much as he did?”—the answer is revealed: “Trudy! His number ONE sister. The sweater fit her perfectly.” And, as is the nature of stories with a happy ending, Rudy gets a new sweater that fits him, from the knitting crocodile, of course. Plot, interactivity, vocabulary, and counting all contribute in making this an engaging book for the upper edge of the board-book range.
A sweet and subtle book on sharing. (Board book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3679-7
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Abrams Appleseed
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
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