A solid board-book introduction to insects.
Briefly meet nine different insect species (and one misplaced snail).
Some big bugs are hiding inside this neatly packaged board book with diminutive trim! The refined insect collages fall into that optimal space between scientifically accurate yet stylized enough to be nonthreatening. Colors weave between luminous translucent wings, dazzlingly bright caterpillar and bee stripes, and earthy-colored bug bodies, all backed by minimal but evocative backgrounds, as with a fly hovering over silhouettes of stinky socks. Accompanying text identifying and providing a brief fact about the bug is succinctly accurate, but the choice of bolded word within the factoid feels arbitrary. In “a caterpillar munches leaves and makes itself a cocoon,” isn’t cocoon as relevant as leaves? Onomatopoeic words “flutter” or “crawl” unobtrusively about the outlines of the critters. A companion book, Nature, utilizes a daintier style of collage, creating delicate, intricately cut habitats. Unlike the laser-focused, zoomed-in Bugs, Nature takes a long view indeed, showcasing “rivers,” “oceans,” and the “universe” itself. This scope can feel grandiose, and the more-conceptual pages, like “seasons” or “weather,” could have used books of their own, although ending with “you” as an integral part of nature does ground it somewhat. Human characters, of whom the majority present as light-skinned, are the weakest part of Lundie’s collage work.
A solid board-book introduction to insects. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: March 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-68152-760-4
Page Count: 10
Publisher: Amicus Ink
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Stunning photography with high appeal for little animal enthusiasts.
Guess the animal based on its wings.
This board book truly is as simple as it sounds: It’s a book about animals and their wings. The featured animals range from the eye-catching (monarch) “butterfly” to the brightly colored “parrot” (a scarlet macaw). A detailed, close-up photograph of part of an animal’s wings is accompanied by a question asking who they belong to. A full-bleed, double-page spread follows, showing a different picture of the whole animal, which adds a bit of suspense. Younger readers might be expecting the colorful underside of the parrot’s wing based on the close-up, but a turn of the page reveals the bird sitting wings closed at its side. Crow includes rich vocabulary words for young readers, like “wrinkled” and “patterned,” as descriptors. The full-color photographs are beautiful and bold, and the close-ups are laid against a white background, helping details stand out. The other books in this series, Coats, Horns, and Scales, follow the same format. Horns impresses with animals uncommon to board books, such as the alpine ibex, markhor, and highland cow. The simplicity of the text and format suggests a younger reader, but the matching skills suggest a slightly older one. Overall, this one will appeal to both age groups thanks to its beautiful photography and the guessing element.
Stunning photography with high appeal for little animal enthusiasts. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4867-1659-3
Page Count: 20
Publisher: Flowerpot Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 25, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
Grab this one instead of a multitude of narrowly focused, lesser-quality picture dictionaries for babies.
A large-format board book with 101 photographs of items including animals, vehicles, and body parts.
The book’s approach is straightforward: It contains pages of labeled photographs arranged by category. Some of the images are printed on flaps that encourage readers to identify colors, numbers, shapes, and sounds. For those looking to save shelf space, it condenses what could have been eight books into one. The items themselves are largely familiar to young readers—things found at home, during mealtime, and outdoors—in addition to the usual suspects such as trucks and animals. A cartoon bird, introduced as the guide on the front cover, poses questions to readers on each page: “Which picture shows four?” It’s a nice touch and helps boost interaction. The photographs themselves are clear and brightly colored against solid backgrounds in neatly aligned blocks. While the design makes the pages appear busy, it’s not completely overwhelming. Aside from the adorable Asian baby on the cover, the very last spread is the only one with photographs of people, and it includes both a white baby with Down syndrome and a couple babies of color. Overall, no gimmicks, nothing overdone—it succeeds in its purpose.
Grab this one instead of a multitude of narrowly focused, lesser-quality picture dictionaries for babies. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-68437-660-5
Page Count: 14
Publisher: Highlights Learning
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2019
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