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Parts of Speech Parade

Name: Parts of Speech Parade
Author: Irina Gonikberg Dolinskiy
ISBN: 978-1596160170

NEW YORK CITY

by Irina Gonikberg Dolinskiy illustrated by Mark Wayne Adams ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

With wonderful pictures and well-worded descriptions, this picture book will be an excellent supplement to grade-school...

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Dolinskiy’s debut picture book explains parts of speech in rhyming text accompanied by Adams’ phenomenal illustrations.

Nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections all appear in this rhyming text. Images accompanying the parade feature a racially diverse assortment of New Yorkers: children, adults, and animals of all shapes and sizes appear in clearly recognizable locations, beginning with the Statue of Liberty and traveling through places that include Rockefeller Center, Grand Central Station, and Central Park. Dolinskiy opens the text with nouns: “I’m a person, place, or thing. / In a sentence, I am king.” Verbs come next: “I build, I work, I dance, I sing. / I’m an action, event, or state of being.” These two parts of speech work best in Dolinskiy’s rhyming couplet format, in part because the text examples are clear. As the picture book progresses, however, the definitions for each part of speech remain strong, but the examples are less clear. Only one adjective appears in the adjective couplets, for example, and its placement comes at the end of a sentence rather than adjacent to a noun. No prepositions appear in the preposition section. Still, the rhyming text will help grade schoolers remember the role of each part of speech, even if examples aren’t immediately present. It does, however, mean that this picture book is an excellent tool to support classroom lessons rather than providing a full lesson on its own. While children might not instantly gravitate toward a book on the parts of speech, the images here are the biggest draw: students from many walks of life are sure to find themselves among the illustrations, and details—sewer workers revealed below the sidewalk; a popped balloon helping to show “interjection”—make revisiting each image a treat. More examples and a section on applying these lessons would turn this book into a top-notch educational treat.

With wonderful pictures and well-worded descriptions, this picture book will be an excellent supplement to grade-school lessons on grammar.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: 978-1596160170

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Mark Wayne Adams, Inc.

Review Posted Online: March 9, 2015

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

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FAMILIES BELONG

by Dan Saks ; illustrated by Brooke Smart ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2020

A joyful celebration.

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Families in a variety of configurations play, dance, and celebrate together.

The rhymed verse, based on a song from the Noodle Loaf children’s podcast, declares that “Families belong / Together like a puzzle / Different-sized people / One big snuggle.” The accompanying image shows an interracial couple of caregivers (one with brown skin and one pale) cuddling with a pajama-clad toddler with light brown skin and surrounded by two cats and a dog. Subsequent pages show a wide array of families with members of many different racial presentations engaging in bike and bus rides, indoor dance parties, and more. In some, readers see only one caregiver: a father or a grandparent, perhaps. One same-sex couple with two children in tow are expecting another child. Smart’s illustrations are playful and expressive, curating the most joyful moments of family life. The verse, punctuated by the word together, frequently set in oversized font, is gently inclusive at its best but may trip up readers with its irregular rhythms. The song that inspired the book can be found on the Noodle Loaf website.

A joyful celebration. (Board book. 1-3)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020

ISBN: 978-0-593-22276-8

Page Count: 24

Publisher: Rise x Penguin Workshop

Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020

Categories:

CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
WE SHARE THIS SCHOOL
by Dan Saks ; illustrated by Brooke Smart

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FAMILIES GROW
by Dan Saks ; illustrated by Brooke Smart

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FAMILIES CAN
by Dan Saks ; illustrated by Brooke Smart

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OTIS

From the Otis series

by Loren Long & illustrated by Loren Long ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2009

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Continuing to find inspiration in the work of Virginia Lee Burton, Munro Leaf and other illustrators of the past, Long (The Little Engine That Could, 2005) offers an aw-shucks friendship tale that features a small but hardworking tractor (“putt puff puttedy chuff”) with a Little Toot–style face and a big-eared young descendant of Ferdinand the bull who gets stuck in deep, gooey mud. After the big new yellow tractor, crowds of overalls-clad locals and a red fire engine all fail to pull her out, the little tractor (who had been left behind the barn to rust after the arrival of the new tractor) comes putt-puff-puttedy-chuff-ing down the hill to entice his terrified bovine buddy successfully back to dry ground. Short on internal logic but long on creamy scenes of calf and tractor either gamboling energetically with a gaggle of McCloskey-like geese through neutral-toned fields or resting peacefully in the shade of a gnarled tree (apple, not cork), the episode will certainly draw nostalgic adults. Considering the author’s track record and influences, it may find a welcome from younger audiences too. (Picture book. 5-8)