The book’s simplicity guarantees achievement for beginning readers.
Two kids, probably siblings, explore their surrounding world through magnification.
While the older one remains inside with a microscope, the younger prefers the outside, examining all with a large hand-held magnifying glass. “I see,” the kid declares, focusing on several insects and animals while peering through the glass. A large, blue-black ant grins up through the glass as the child states, “I see an ant.” A butterfly, a snail, and robins’ eggs similarly appear through the glass, all narrated in the short, patterned text. Arriving home with discoveries crawling and flapping behind, the explorer now declares, “We see,” to the older child. The minimalist text is perfect for emerging readers, allowing children the ability to successfully read a whole book. Each repetitive sentence with its additional new word is coupled with recognizable picture cues to help in decoding. Cepeda’s characteristically energetic artwork offers sharp-edged, jagged lines that give it a scratch-art look. The siblings are dressed nearly identically, in blue shorts and red polo shirts, and they have tousled brown hair, beige skin, and big smiles.
The book’s simplicity guarantees achievement for beginning readers. (Picture book/early reader. 4-6)Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4504-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2019
An accessible, inviting title for brand new readers.
The latest collaboration from the father-and-daughter team is nice indeed.
Beginning with its title, this very beginning reader employs a controlled, rhyming text to tell the story of mice who strap on ice skates and joyfully glide across the ice. Bright, colorful cut-paper and digital illustrations adopt a perspective that enables readers to see the increasingly intricate tracings left on the ice by the skates. Then, three successive pages read, “Someone is waiting. / What is this? / What is that?” and careful readers will see that the marks of the tracings have come together to look like the outline of a cat’s face. Rather inexplicably, the page turn then reveals a cat in full color, accompanied by the words, “That is a cat.” Ensuing pages show the cat merrily skating along with the mice, who don’t seem to be the least bit afraid. “The cat with a hat skates with mice on ice. / Nice!” read the concluding lines, putting a cheery, if not particularly exciting, end to the book.
An accessible, inviting title for brand new readers. (Picture book/early reader. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-8234-2576-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: July 31, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2012
Betty fails to score with this underinflated effort.
Betty Bunny returns for a fourth entry in this successful series, focusing this time on scoring a goal for her soccer team.
In the previous stories in the series, Betty’s delightfully intense personality was defined through her obsession with chocolate cake, her over-the-top shopping spree in a toy store, and an incident involving lying and its consequences. These laugh-out-loud stories captured Betty’s precocious intellect and strong emotions, creating a believable character with a lovable streak of creative naughtiness. Alas, this time Betty just wants to score a goal on the soccer field like all the other little animals. She makes many mistakes in her first game, with her deflated attitude further depressed by snide comments from her older brothers. After just one week of coaching by her oldest brother, Betty scores her coveted goal in the next game and feels “the happiest moment of her life”—except for the first time she ate chocolate cake. The soccer plot feels forced onto Betty rather than growing out of her distinct personality, and some of the soccer jokes, such as scoring a goal in your own net, will be understood only by those children who already play soccer. Even the illustrations seem a little forced and crowded, lacking the distinctive sparkle of the previous stories.
Betty fails to score with this underinflated effort. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: March 18, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3859-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 28, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2014
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