COUNTING COLORFUL SHAPES

Name: COUNTING COLORFUL SHAPES
Author: Isabel Hill
ISBN: 978-1-59572-776-3

by Isabel Hill ; photographed by Isabel Hill ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2017

While not a child’s first counting book, it is a beautiful one and an inspiration to caregivers to help their children find...

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Close-up photographs of architectural details give young readers a counting challenge.

Hill’s photographs take readers to the Art Deco District of Miami Beach, where they can count “1 yellow diamond,” “4 purple squares,” and “10 green rectangles,” among other shapes. She has to stretch to find 10 distinct shapes to fill her book, and readers may rightly feel that “3 gray wavy lines” and “9 pink zigzags” aren’t, strictly speaking, shapes. The book’s design is striking and thoughtful, each double-page spread enclosed in a black frame decorated with small examples of the shape and color highlighted; blue stars decorate the frame around the seven stars on the sign of a movie theater, for instance. Some artistic license has been taken, as with the white triangles that march in saw-tooth pattern around the photograph of “5 black triangles” that interrupt a square of white tiles. The photographs are always on recto, the numeral and brief text label printed on verso in the classically elegant, sans serif typeface associated with the Art Deco era against a plain field of the color featured. A concluding double-page spread presents eight photographs of new building details along with a challenge to readers to find further shapes and colors in them.

While not a child’s first counting book, it is a beautiful one and an inspiration to caregivers to help their children find shapes in their own neighborhoods. (Picture book. 2-6)

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-59572-776-3

Page Count: 24

Publisher: Star Bright

Review Posted Online: Dec. 25, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2017

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS

- BOOK REVIEW
DECO DESIGN
by Isabel Hill

- BOOK REVIEW
URBAN ANIMALS
by Isabel Hill & photographed by Isabel Hill

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YOUR BABY'S FIRST WORD WILL BE DADA

by Jimmy Fallon ; illustrated by Miguel Ordóñez ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 9, 2015

Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it.

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A succession of animal dads do their best to teach their young to say “Dada” in this picture-book vehicle for Fallon.

A grumpy bull says, “DADA!”; his calf moos back. A sad-looking ram insists, “DADA!”; his lamb baas back. A duck, a bee, a dog, a rabbit, a cat, a mouse, a donkey, a pig, a frog, a rooster, and a horse all fail similarly, spread by spread. A final two-spread sequence finds all of the animals arrayed across the pages, dads on the verso and children on the recto. All the text prior to this point has been either iterations of “Dada” or animal sounds in dialogue bubbles; here, narrative text states, “Now everybody get in line, let’s say it together one more time….” Upon the turn of the page, the animal dads gaze round-eyed as their young across the gutter all cry, “DADA!” (except the duckling, who says, “quack”). Ordóñez's illustrations have a bland, digital look, compositions hardly varying with the characters, although the pastel-colored backgrounds change. The punch line fails from a design standpoint, as the sudden, single-bubble chorus of “DADA” appears to be emanating from background features rather than the baby animals’ mouths (only some of which, on close inspection, appear to be open). It also fails to be funny.

Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it. (Picture book. 3-5)

Pub Date: June 9, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-250-00934-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

- BOOK REVIEW
CON POLLO
by Jimmy Fallon & Jennifer Lopez ; illustrated by Andrea Campos

- SEEN & HEARD
Jimmy Fallon Christmas Book Coming This Fall

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DIGGERSAURS

by Michael Whaite ; illustrated by Michael Whaite ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 2, 2019

Count on construction die-hards falling in love, but discerning readers would be wise to look elsewhere for their...

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Less ambitious than Chris Gall’s widely known Dinotrux (2009) and sequels, this British import systematically relegates each dinosaur/construction-equipment hybrid to its most logical job.

The title figures are introduced as bigger than both diggers and dinosaurs, and rhyming text and two construction-helmeted kids show just what these creatures are capable of. Each diggersaur has a specific job to do and a distinct sound effect. The dozersaurus moves rocks with a “SCRAAAAPE!!!” while the rollersaurus flattens lumps with a cheery “TOOT TOOT!!” Each diggersaur is numbered, with 12 in all, allowing this to be a counting book on the sly. As the diggersaurs (not all of which dig) perform jobs that regular construction equipment can do, albeit on a larger scale, there is no particular reason why any of them should have dinosaurlike looks other than just ’cause. Peppy computer art tries valiantly to attract attention away from the singularly unoriginal text. “Diggersaurs dig with bites so BIG, / each SCOOP creates a crater. // They’re TOUGH and STRONG / with necks so long— / they’re super EXCAVATORS!” Far more interesting are the two human characters, a white girl and a black boy, that flit about the pictures offering commentary and action. Much of the fun of the book can be found in trying to spot them on every two-page spread.

Count on construction die-hards falling in love, but discerning readers would be wise to look elsewhere for their dino/construction kicks. (Picture book. 3-6)