An early-reader book to build on.
An accessible, rhyming text drives this story-with-a-twist about a construction site, inviting new readers to hone their emerging skills.
Initial spreads depict a variety of vehicles engaged in digging, scooping, lifting and so on, detailing the activities of a construction site. Varied visual perspectives in the art draw the eyes to the different machines, but they can be disorienting—particularly in the worm’s-eye view on the spread reading “Digger’s teeth bite the ground,” which does not show the “[t]racks skid[ding] around” as indicated by the text. On the other hand, while some readers may wonder why the vehicles’ operators are not seen in the art, this omission is satisfyingly resolved in a long-shot spread that depicts a group of children playing with toy trucks in a sand pile. The vehicles are clearly miniversions of those from prior pages, and it’s refreshing to see both boys and girls and at least one child of color included in the group “working like a team.” From here, the narrative draws the children’s play to a conclusion by book’s end, providing readers with a fictive parallel to their own accomplishments in finishing the book: “Good work, crew!”
An early-reader book to build on. (Early reader. 4-6)Pub Date: June 25, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-375-96910-2
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Required reading for both plane-iacs and any first-time flier.
For young fans of things with wings, another oversized visual riot from the creator of Everything Goes: On Land (2011).
Following a departing family as it wends its way through a teeming airport, Biggs doesn’t just confine himself to winged aircraft—covering instead the entire history of flight from the Wright Brothers on. Topical spreads are filled edge to edge with early airplanes, modern working planes of various designs, helicopters, gliders, blimps and balloons. Knowing just how much visual busyness to pack into each bright cartoon scene without turning it into a confusing jumble, he also offers alternate spreads a-bustle with activity. Passengers wheel luggage through a concourse, undress to various degrees at a security station (“NOPE” flashes the red sign over the gate as a peg-legged pirate tries to pass), board a jetliner (later seen in a cutaway view) and taxi out to the runway for a climactic double-gatefold takeoff. Along with identifying labels, viewers inclined to take closer looks will be rewarded by the sight of five rug rats leading a harried mom on a merry chase, birds with or without jaunty hats, at least one personal cameo of the artist and other diversions.
Required reading for both plane-iacs and any first-time flier. (Informational picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-06-195810-6
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 24, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Monkeys who met previously in MonkeyWorld ABC (2012) get names as well and occupations on a thrill-a-minute train ride.
At the Station Master’s “All aboard!” passengers from Mayday the detective and Oscar the magician to Jango Jenkins and his Dixieland Band climb into the Thunderbolt Express, bound for Miggleswick station. They are all rendered as stylized, nattily attired monkeys in Porter’s cleanly drawn, brightly colored cartoon illustrations. Any expectations of a quiet journey are quickly dispelled as a mystery featuring a vanished pet is followed by a brake failure, a missing bridge, a wild flying leap over a crocodile-infested river and a full-speed trip right through a circus tent. Whew! All agree, at the end, that the ride was well worth having to chuck out their luggage, instruments and, for some, clothes along the way. The adventure is narrated in a dry, matter-of-fact present tense that folds in some nifty vocabulary as well as conveying these monkeys’ personalities: “Jango Jenkins and his band are really swinging. Only Mono the inventor refuses to jive. / Meanwhile, back in the compartment, a mystery is unfurling.” A hoot for younger children fond of monkeys (not to mention, in one scene, monkeys in underpants!). (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-57061-877-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sasquatch
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
