A tasty way for preschoolers to sharpen their counting skills.
This companion to Edible Colors (2014) presents photographs of fruits and vegetables in groups from one to 12.
The counting pattern introduces a single variety or cultivar of a plant species, then an increasingly greater number of other cultivars of the same species. Thus, “1 pea pod”—Sugar Snap—appears on the first verso against white space; then “2 pea pods”—Blue Podded and Golden Sweet Snow—are displayed on the recto. Next, “1 cucumber”—General Lee—is followed by “3 cucumbers”—Dragon’s Egg, Boothby’s Blonde and Sikkum. The evocative common names of the produce add charm and serendipity. For example, readers will discover the commonplace button mushroom as well as more exotic varieties such as Blue Foot, Pom Pom Blanc and Hen of the Woods. The Berkeley Tie Die tomato and the Moon and Stars watermelon should delight adults and children alike. After the 12 plant groupings, an additional spread invites readers to distinguish among an array of plums, ears of corn, watermelons and carrots. A final spread showcases all of the groups, from 1 Swiss chard leaf to 12 citrus fruits, as a dozen vertical rows of thumbnail-sized, uncaptioned photos. Many of the photographs from Edible Colors are reused. In one instance, a red pepper is captioned as “Wonder bell pepper” in the earlier volume and as “King Arthur” here.
A tasty way for preschoolers to sharpen their counting skills. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: May 26, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-62672-003-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own...
The sturdy Little Blue Truck is back for his third adventure, this time delivering Christmas trees to his band of animal pals.
The truck is decked out for the season with a Christmas wreath that suggests a nose between headlights acting as eyeballs. Little Blue loads up with trees at Toad’s Trees, where five trees are marked with numbered tags. These five trees are counted and arithmetically manipulated in various ways throughout the rhyming story as they are dropped off one by one to Little Blue’s friends. The final tree is reserved for the truck’s own use at his garage home, where he is welcomed back by the tree salestoad in a neatly circular fashion. The last tree is already decorated, and Little Blue gets a surprise along with readers, as tiny lights embedded in the illustrations sparkle for a few seconds when the last page is turned. Though it’s a gimmick, it’s a pleasant surprise, and it fits with the retro atmosphere of the snowy country scenes. The short, rhyming text is accented with colored highlights, red for the animal sounds and bright green for the numerical words in the Christmas-tree countdown.
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own tree that will put a twinkle in a toddler’s eyes. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-32041-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Innovative and thoroughly enjoyable.
You think you know shapes? Animals? Blend them together, and you might see them both a little differently!
What a mischievous twist on a concept book! With wordplay and a few groan-inducing puns, Neal creates connections among animals and shapes that are both unexpected and so seemingly obvious that readers might wonder why they didn’t see them all along. Of course, a “lazy turtle” meeting an oval would create the side-splitting combo of a “SLOW-VAL.” A dramatic page turn transforms a deeply saturated, clean-lined green oval by superimposing a head and turtle shell atop, with watery blue ripples completing the illusion. Minimal backgrounds and sketchy, impressionistic detailing keep the focus right on the zany animals. Beginning with simple shapes, the geometric forms become more complicated as the book advances, taking readers from a “soaring bird” that meets a triangle to become a “FLY-ANGLE” to a “sleepy lion” nonagon “YAWN-AGON.” Its companion text, Animal Colors, delves into color theory, this time creating entirely hybrid animals, such as the “GREEN WHION” with maned head and whale’s tail made from a “blue whale and a yellow lion.” It’s a compelling way to visualize color mixing, and like Animal Shapes, it’s got verve. Who doesn’t want to shout out that a yellow kangaroo/green moose blend is a “CHARTREUSE KANGAMOOSE”?
Innovative and thoroughly enjoyable. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: March 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4998-0534-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little Bee Books
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
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