illustrated by Jacques Duquennoy ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 5, 2019
Zack and Zoe’s evident joy and ease in painting should inspire young Riveras and Kahlos alike to make some art of their own.
The didactic duo Zoe the zebra and Zack the chameleon are back to teach artistically inclined toddlers the value of a varied palette.
This charming primer introduces preschoolers to six basic colors—blue, yellow, red, green, orange, and purple—as well as black and white, then demonstrates their utility in creating simple but pleasing representational images. Duquennoy has a gift for communicating simple, useful ideas to youngsters while cultivating a sense of excitement about visual expression. Here, he employs die-cut pages and inlaid acetate sheets to create surprise composite images that take shape when the page is turned and the pattern on the acetate combines with a pattern on the previous page. “Using the color blue, Zoe and Zack paint…”—here readers turn the page, so the acetate overlays the preceding page, and the blue blobs on each page combine to form—“…a seal on the ice.” With the color red, the two friends paint a fish, and with yellow, “the shining sun.” They also paint a green frog, an orange fox, a purple sea turtle, and a black wolf. On the final sheet of acetate, Zoe paints a multitude of white dots, which, readers learn upon turning the page, is snow in which the wolf can play.
Zack and Zoe’s evident joy and ease in painting should inspire young Riveras and Kahlos alike to make some art of their own. (Board book. 2-5)Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 979-1-03630-426-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Twirl/Chronicle
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
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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.
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
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SEEN & HEARD
by Audrey Penn ; illustrated by Barbara L. Gibson ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2014
Parents of toddlers starting school or day care should seek separation-anxiety remedies elsewhere, and fans of the original...
A sweetened, condensed version of the best-selling picture book, The Kissing Hand.
As in the original, Chester Raccoon is nervous about attending Owl’s night school (raccoons are nocturnal). His mom kisses him on the paw and reminds him, “With a Kissing Hand… / We’ll never be apart.” The text boils the story down to its key elements, causing this version to feel rushed. Gone is the list of fun things Chester will get to do at school. Fans of the original may be disappointed that this board edition uses a different illustrator. Gibson’s work is equally sentimental, but her renderings are stiff and flat in comparison to the watercolors of Harper and Leak. Very young readers will probably not understand that Owl’s tree, filled with opossums, a squirrel, a chipmunk and others, is supposed to be a school.
Parents of toddlers starting school or day care should seek separation-anxiety remedies elsewhere, and fans of the original shouldn’t look to this version as replacement for their page-worn copies. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: April 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-933718-77-4
Page Count: 14
Publisher: Tanglewood Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2014
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