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
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A rollicking tale of rivalry.
Sweet Street had just one baker, Monsieur Oliphant, until two new confectionists move in, bringing a sugar rush of competition and customers.
First comes “Cookie Concocter par excellence” Mademoiselle Fee and then a pie maker, who opens “the divine Patisserie Clotilde!” With each new arrival to Sweet Street, rivalries mount and lines of hungry treat lovers lengthen. Children will delight in thinking about an abundance of gingerbread cookies, teetering, towering cakes, and blackbird pies. Wonderfully eccentric line-and-watercolor illustrations (with whites and marbled pastels like frosting) appeal too. Fine linework lends specificity to an off-kilter world in which buildings tilt at wacky angles and odd-looking (exclusively pale) people walk about, their pantaloons, ruffles, long torsos, and twiglike arms, legs, and fingers distinguishing them as wonderfully idiosyncratic. Rotund Monsieur Oliphant’s periwinkle complexion, flapping ears, and elongated nose make him look remarkably like an elephant while the women confectionists appear clownlike, with exaggerated lips, extravagantly lashed eyes, and voluminous clothes. French idioms surface intermittently, adding a certain je ne sais quoi. Embedded rhymes contribute to a bouncing, playful narrative too: “He layered them and cherried them and married people on them.” Tension builds as the cul de sac grows more congested with sweet-makers, competition, frustration, and customers. When the inevitable, fantastically messy food fight occurs, an observant child finds a sweet solution amid the delicious detritus.
A rollicking tale of rivalry. (Picture book. 4-8 )Pub Date: July 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-101-91885-2
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: April 7, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2020
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