Fun and enriching.
There’s plenty to do in this vocabulary-building, question-and-answer, lift-the-flap guide to color.
This well-conceived primer is not a great choice for the youngest toddlers, whose undeveloped fine-motor skills would doubtless lead to torn and missing flaps in no time. But precocious young readers with some dexterity will enjoy solving the riddles and revealing the answers in this colorful effort. The verso of each double-page spread features a patterned field of saturated color. Four flaps on the page pose questions, with answers beneath, about items of that color. The recto names the featured color above a picture rendered primarily in that color. Embedded in that picture is one more flap concealing an item of a different color—“Oops! These flowers are not red! They’re blue!”—setting up the color scheme for the next spread. Each flap features a thoughtful notch to help little fingers gain purchase. This format—four questions and answers, plus one surprise that doesn’t match, every two pages—means the book is a longer read than comparably sized board books, which may well challenge a toddler’s attention span. As there’s no storyline, however, there’s no harm done if a child doesn’t make it all the way through on every reading. The colors pop, as they should; the artwork is pleasant and mostly representational (e.g., foods and flowers) with the exception of animals, who are cartoony, cute, and full of personality.
Fun and enriching. (Board book. 2-5)Pub Date: March 19, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-948418-19-5
Page Count: 20
Publisher: Clever Publishing
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2019
A great way to vary tots’ reading diets.
Do you know your fruit? Vibrant digital illustrations and a few interesting facts introduce nine unusual fruits that are literally “exotic,” as in not indigenous to the United States.
On recto, the fruit is seen in its natural form, whole and uncut on a contrasting background, with the name of the fruit coordinated by color (“mangosteen” is written in dark purple, for instance). That word is embedded in a sentence that describes the fruit as it looks and feels from the outside (“DRAGON FRUIT’s bright pink skin and green leaves resemble the body of a Chinese dragon”). Turn the page to see that same fruit cut or peeled, with the inside showing, and simple information about the color, shape, taste, texture, and fragrance of the fruit. (“But inside, [the lychee’s] clear flesh is sugary. Its musky smell can fill up a whole room.”) The region of origin of each fruit is mentioned on the second page along with a “fun fact” or alternative name. All the information is basic and age-appropriate. The digital illustrations are bold, colorful, and realistic. A brief note on the last page mentions where U.S. readers might find these fruits. It’s hard to get a sense of the fruits’ relative sizes, but that is a small gripe and does not detract from the punch of the book.
A great way to vary tots’ reading diets. (Board book. 2-5)Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4549-2802-7
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
Conceptually elegant, visually clean, uncluttered—and sure to inspire young artists everywhere.
A charming lesson for young Michaelangelos and O’Keeffes on drawing geometric shapes—and from them, simple representational images.
Artist-turned-educator-turned–children’s book creator Duquennoy has created an entertaining and inventive vehicle to teach youngsters both basic shapes and some simple drawings that can be made with them. As with the simultaneously published companion volume, Opposites, this book makes clever use of die-cut pages, here combined with clear acetate windows to show children how simple lines become familiar shapes, then toys and animals. Zack the chameleon draws a curved semicircle on one page; on the facing page, Zoe the zebra can be seen drawing a complementary semicircle on the clear window between them. When the page is turned, the two curved lines combine to form a circle. Zack draws more circles, and Zoe does the same, in seemingly random patterns, until a turn of the page creates a composite image of a teddy bear. Squares can be used, the two friends suggest, to draw a robot. Triangles are used to draw fish. All three shapes can be combined to construct a rudimentary but clearly recognizable “beautiful bird…ready to fly high in the sky.” It’s an admirably simple device to encourage crayon aficionados with still-developing motor skills to make the jump from scribbles to basic representational drawing.
Conceptually elegant, visually clean, uncluttered—and sure to inspire young artists everywhere. (Board book. 2-5)Pub Date: April 3, 2018
ISBN: 978-2-74708-699-8
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Twirl/Chronicle
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
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