by John C. Vanden-Heuvel Sr. & Andrey Ostrovky ; illustrated by Tom Holmes ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 3, 2016
For the baby showers of expectant web developers only—all others should close the browser on this one.
An alphabet primer that introduces little ones to HTML, the internet, JavaScript, and more.
Each page presents one letter and a brief definition of a concept from web design and coding. “O is for Open source. / Use an O. / Work with O. / What begins with O?” This is followed by an explanation: “Open source is sharing code and adding what you know.” The terms are accompanied by cartoon babies, with paper-white, orangey-brown, and burnt-orange skin tones, demonstrating the meanings of these web concepts in everyday situations. To demonstrate “open source,” pajama-clad tots happily share a hard-candy choke hazard. To illustrate “elements,” a baby builds with oversize Lego-like bricks, and the “tags” page shows clothing on hangers with large store tags dangling. Many of these concepts are quite sophisticated, and the one-sentence definitions will just leave little ones and many of their grown-ups with more queries. Also, it is hard to know who the book’s audience is. Will board-book–reading, literal-minded toddlers and preschoolers be able to understand that the “cookies” in their computer aren’t real cookies at all? Most children will not begin to understand the concepts in this book until they are 8 or 9 at least, but they will likely not want to have these ideas explained by cartoon babies wearing onesies.
For the baby showers of expectant web developers only—all others should close the browser on this one. (Board book. 3-6)Pub Date: May 3, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4998-0312-9
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Little Bee Books
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
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BOOK REVIEW
by John C. Vanden-Heuvel Sr. ; illustrated by Cristian Turdera
by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 7, 2023
Let these crayons go back into their box.
The Crayons return to celebrate Easter.
Six crayons (Red, Orange, Yellow, Esteban, who is green and wears a yellow cape, White, and Blue) each take a shape and scribble designs on it. Purple, perplexed and almost angry, keeps asking why no one is creating an egg, but the six friends have a great idea. They take the circle decorated with red shapes, the square adorned with orange squiggles “the color of the sun,” the triangle with yellow designs, also “the color of the sun” (a bit repetitious), a rectangle with green wavy lines, a white star, about which Purple remarks: “DID you even color it?” and a rhombus covered with blue markings and slap the shapes onto a big, light-brown egg. Then the conversation turns to hiding the large object in plain sight. The joke doesn’t really work, the shapes are not clear enough for a concept book, and though colors are delineated, it’s not a very original color book. There’s a bit of clever repartee. When Purple observe that Esteban’s green rectangle isn’t an egg, Esteban responds, “No, but MY GOSH LOOK how magnificent it is!” Still, that won’t save this lackluster book, which barely scratches the surface of Easter, whether secular or religious. The multimedia illustrations, done in the same style as the other series entries, are always fun, but perhaps it’s time to retire these anthropomorphic coloring implements. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Let these crayons go back into their box. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-62105-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2022
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by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Alex Willmore
BOOK REVIEW
by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers
BOOK REVIEW
by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers
by Jimmy Fallon ; illustrated by Miguel Ordóñez ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 9, 2015
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it.
A succession of animal dads do their best to teach their young to say “Dada” in this picture-book vehicle for Fallon.
A grumpy bull says, “DADA!”; his calf moos back. A sad-looking ram insists, “DADA!”; his lamb baas back. A duck, a bee, a dog, a rabbit, a cat, a mouse, a donkey, a pig, a frog, a rooster, and a horse all fail similarly, spread by spread. A final two-spread sequence finds all of the animals arrayed across the pages, dads on the verso and children on the recto. All the text prior to this point has been either iterations of “Dada” or animal sounds in dialogue bubbles; here, narrative text states, “Now everybody get in line, let’s say it together one more time….” Upon the turn of the page, the animal dads gaze round-eyed as their young across the gutter all cry, “DADA!” (except the duckling, who says, “quack”). Ordóñez's illustrations have a bland, digital look, compositions hardly varying with the characters, although the pastel-colored backgrounds change. The punch line fails from a design standpoint, as the sudden, single-bubble chorus of “DADA” appears to be emanating from background features rather than the baby animals’ mouths (only some of which, on close inspection, appear to be open). It also fails to be funny.
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 9, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-250-00934-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
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by Jimmy Fallon & Jennifer Lopez ; illustrated by Andrea Campos
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