A fun, practical book that will make kids laugh and learn.
In their debut, co-authors Altman and Jacobson explain to young readers the appropriate uses for the nose, ears and mouth—and what should go in them and what should not.
Breakfast foods, like bacon and fried eggs, do not go in the ears or nose. Neither do toy cars, bumblebees, chopsticks, stones, small animals, or art supplies—no matter how tempting it is to poke them up the nostril or through the ear canal. And why not? For one thing, “Ears have really small holes that lead into your head // Sounds should enter in them and never stuff like bread!” Plus, it scares doctors and parents and causes pain. Instead, the authors explain that the nose is just for smelling and the ears just for hearing. The short book turns to many examples to drive home its message, in both text and illustrations. Young children will find these examples familiar and comical—the perfect combination to emphasize a point to the age group most likely to squeeze a straw or crayon where they shouldn’t. A couple of the rhymes sound a bit forced—“Playing with your racecars? / Have fun…but this, I shout: / Toy cars up your nostrils / May never race right out.” But the kids won’t notice the slight stiltedness. They’ll be too distracted by the amusing illustrations on every page: bright colors, animals, and a diverse cast of goofy kids playing outside, painting, and exploring the world around them. Altman, an ear, nose, and throat specialist, and Jacobson do a great job speaking to their audience. They acknowledge that it may be enticing to put stuff where it shouldn’t go, but they don’t do it sternly. Instead they bring up the repercussions with simple language and pictures, always keeping the tone light and positive.
A fun, practical book that will make kids laugh and learn.Pub Date: May 15, 2013
ISBN: 978-0988886100
Page Count: 22
Publisher: ZonaBooks, LLC.
Review Posted Online: Feb. 10, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
In Brown's swashbuckling watercolors, Boris is tough indeed — hirsute, craggy, grim — but then, "All pirates are tough." As Fox's text succinctly points out, he's also "massive," "scruffy," "greedy," and "fearless," all qualities demonstrated in the illustrations as he seizes a violin from one of his crew, threatens the whole ugly lot after it's been purloined (readers will know that the stowaway boy, who earlier watched while the pirates buried their treasure, is the real culprit). The "scary" pirates catch the boy but soften when they hear him play; and when Boris's parrot dies, the boy helps him put it in the violin case for burial at sea and Boris cries and cries — "All pirates cry." These pirates also let the boy keep the violin when they row him home. Kids are sure to enjoy puzzling out the real story from the pictures, to which, in the end, the text's childlike stereotyping makes an amusing contrast. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-15-289612-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1994
Utterly enchanting nonsense tale, which children and grown-ups will equally claim. Particularly fishermen, of any age. A small boy drops a fishing line in a farmer's pool and ignores the farmer's scornful comment on the kinds of things he will find in the pool. His imagination plays, instead, with the kinds of things the pool might provide — and the pictures are wonderful,- superb drawing, beautiful color, lots of humor in double page spreads throughout.
Pub Date: Sept. 12, 1947
ISBN: 0394800834
Page Count: 62
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Oct. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1947
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