A fitting sequel to Freddy’s original adventure, packed with facts accompanied by cheerful illustrations.
Snow, snow, and more snow. What’s a frog to do? Dean’s (Freddy the Frogcaster, 2013) irrepressible amphibian puts his weather-safety skills to good use in this snowy sequel.
After saving the town picnic from a big thunderstorm, Freddy has become known not only for his accurate weather predictions (he has his own “backyard weather station”), but also his disaster preparedness. After school, the cheerful amphibian has a “special job” at the local Frog News Network with broadcasters Sally Croaker and Polly Woggins. On a class field trip to the station, Freddy identifies a winter storm that will soon hit the town of Lilypad. While his friends rejoice in the future snow day, Freddy realizes that the storm will be serious: Lilypad is about to have a blizzard. Freddy is used to preparing for bad weather, so he thinks through everything he and his friends will need for the incoming storm. Freddy’s emergency blizzard kit includes a radio, first-aid kit, water, food, a flashlight, and blankets—and he makes sure that he packs one for Polly Woggins, who will be reporting live from the news van during the blizzard. As Freddy watches the broadcast and the snow comes down, the power goes out, and he has to wait until morning to find out whether his friend is safe and sound. Blizzard preparedness may not seem like an adventurous topic, but Dean keeps the pacing exactly right to create tension without scaring younger readers. Not only are they likely to become involved in the story, they may learn something valuable about blizzard preparation. Cox’s brightly colored illustrations of a variety of humanoid frogs (reminiscent of Muppets) capture the drama. The frequency and size of the images help break up the text, which varies from two sentences to four full paragraphs. Though the style of the story might appeal to very young readers, the content—especially in the helpful science notes included at the end—is more appropriate for a grade school audience.
A fitting sequel to Freddy’s original adventure, packed with facts accompanied by cheerful illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2014
ISBN: 978-1621572541
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Regnery Kids
Review Posted Online: Feb. 27, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come.
Little Blue Truck and his pal Toad meet friends old and new on a springtime drive through the country.
This lift-the-flap, interactive entry in the popular Little Blue Truck series lacks the narrative strength and valuable life lessons of the original Little Blue Truck (2008) and its sequel, Little Blue Truck Leads the Way (2009). Both of those books, published for preschoolers rather than toddlers, featured rich storylines, dramatic, kinetic illustrations, and simple but valuable life lessons—the folly of taking oneself too seriously, the importance of friends, and the virtue of taking turns, for example. At about half the length and with half as much text as the aforementioned titles, this volume is a much quicker read. Less a story than a vernal celebration, the book depicts a bucolic drive through farmland and encounters with various animals and their young along the way. Beautifully rendered two-page tableaux teem with butterflies, blossoms, and vibrant pastel, springtime colors. Little Blue greets a sheep standing in the door of a barn: “Yoo-hoo, Sheep! / Beep-beep! / What’s new?” Folding back the durable, card-stock flap reveals the barn’s interior and an adorable set of twin lambs. Encounters with a duck and nine ducklings, a cow with a calf, a pig with 10 (!) piglets, a family of bunnies, and a chicken with a freshly hatched chick provide ample opportunity for counting and vocabulary work.
Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come. (Board book. 1-4)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-544-93809-0
Page Count: 16
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
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