The cutesy and busy illustrations, confusing text, and sometimes-delicate tabs keep this from delivering everything it...
If lifting flaps is the goal, the 52 contained in this board book deliver.
A winking red “SPED-X!” truck on the cover promises intriguing treats on the die-cut pages within. On the first spread flaps on a fleet of four trucks reveal the tools of the trade: boxes, packing materials, a dolly, a pallet. Successive pages highlight specific types of cargo. Unfortunately, essential information is sacrificed in favor of rhyming text. For example, “A truck full of rides is the BEST ONE YET!” is identified as a carnival truck only by its clown face. But it does rhyme with the next, equally confusing, line: “But nothing beats the lovable truck that delivers your new PET!” This may have children wondering where the pet-delivery trucks in their neighborhood are. Similarly, a truck described as smelling “sweet” is delivering flowers, not the ice cream most children would assume. A double-page spread of a vehicle carrier is the most intriguing, though the double-cut tabs will quickly tear, and the vehicles revealed offer an odd mix of vocabulary. (What looks like a military jeep is identified as a “clunker”; other tabs hide a “hybrid car” with dangling plug, a personal “watercraft,” and an “ATV.”) Caregivers should heed the back cover’s caution: “HANDLE WITH CARE.”
The cutesy and busy illustrations, confusing text, and sometimes-delicate tabs keep this from delivering everything it promises. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: May 30, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-9219-5
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Quibbles won’t prevent readers from diving in and marveling
Follow a silver submarine through grand adventures in this French import.
When readers open the durable, oversized cardboard pages they’re immersed in gorgeous, sweeping digital renderings of colorful ocean ecosystems. There’s only a smattering of plot: A tiny submarine plunges underwater to explore but is whisked off course by a violent storm, ultimately traveling to the Arctic, along coral reefs, down to the ocean’s dark trenches, and back up to the sunny surface. Conversationally narrated as though readers are riding along, the text names the species depicted and provides clues to help locate and identify most from among the busyness, though some specimens are missing any contextual hint and would benefit from a label or key. The teeny, thin type is also tricky to see against the large pages. An accompanying, digitally accessible ocean soundtrack is nicely atmospheric but also suffers from vagueness, as without track markers, it’s challenging to match the page with specific movements. But the immersive, multilayered art teeming with intricately drawn crowds of sea creatures set on ethereal backgrounds and the feeling of grand scale admirably capture the majesties under the sea. Variegated background shades of blue and green make the colorful underwater flora and fauna glisten, especially the metallic-inked silver sub and dynamic neon pink and Day-Glo yellow highlights.
Quibbles won’t prevent readers from diving in and marveling . (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: May 28, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3356-7
Page Count: 14
Publisher: Abrams Appleseed
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A droll mix of science and silliness just right for a bedtime flight.
Who would guess that the wonders of outer space include not only stars and planets, but astro-dogs and cookies and milk?
Printed on heavy, coated stock that unfolds in stages into a wall hanging, this extraterrestrial flight of fancy features a rocket at its center with an enthralled child peering through a large porthole at a succession of marvels. These include but are not confined to ringed planets, a flaming meteor, the International Space Station, a grinning, green-skinned ET flashing a “peace” sign, a mouse nibbling on a ragged moon, and an astronaut calling in an order to a floating pizza parlor. Along with posing the question “Are cookies found in the Milky Way?” Riggs’ five-sentence narrative includes a “Greetings, Earthlings!” from the alien and an exuberant observation at the end: “Many worlds await beyond the stars!” Sheban casts a low, mysterious glow over his crowded starscape, too dim to determine the ethnic identities of his human figures but bright enough to make out, for instance, a pair of canine space travelers and the yummy snack (see above) suspended in space amid the shadowy planets and satellites.
A droll mix of science and silliness just right for a bedtime flight. (Novelty board book. 2-4)Pub Date: March 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-56846-336-0
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Creative Editions/Creative Company
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
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