by Julia Denos ; illustrated by Julia Denos ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 15, 2016
For color wranglers and windblown spirits everywhere.
Swatch is a color whisperer.
On bright white backgrounds, “in a place where colors ran wild,” Swatch—skinny, almond-eyed, and peach-skinned, with a striped shirt and ever changing headbands—tames swaths of color as if they’re animals. She bends and leaps, creeps and crouches; she stands on a fire hydrant and stretches impossibly upward to reach inky blue sky. Colors gush and burst around her—are they emanating from her hands and brushes or borne on the breeze? She hunts them wherever they are: “Bravest Green shot up the first week of March,” while “In-Between Gray lived on her kitten’s leg.” Denos’ text is fierce and crisp, her color-characters wondrous. Using a tight range of hue with spellbinding shapes and textures in watercolor, ink, and pencil, she creates a blue squall swirling with movement, simultaneously watery, sharp, and gusting. A yellow yawns and billows, part wind, part fox, part sunlight—but also purring and buttery. Despite Swatch’s label as a “tamer,” the colors all live free, visiting her of their own accord—“until the day she lured Just-Laid Blue straight from its nest and into a jam jar.” Now she’s trapping colors in glass jars, where they circle restlessly. But Yellowest Yellow, the last uncaptured color, shines bright on a sidewalk flower; they converse, and Swatch remembers about freedom.
For color wranglers and windblown spirits everywhere. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 15, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-236638-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2016
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by Joan Holub & illustrated by Jan Smith ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2012
Between its autumn and field-trip themes and the fact that not many books start countdowns from 20, this may find its way to...
A class visits the pumpkin patch, giving readers a chance to count down from 20.
At the farm, Farmer Mixenmatch gives them the tour, which includes a petting zoo, an educational area, a corn maze and a tractor ride to the pumpkin patch. Holub’s text cleverly though not always successfully rhymes each child’s name within the line: “ ‘Eighteen kids get on our bus,’ says Russ. / ‘But someone’s late,’ says Kate. / ‘Wait for me!’ calls Kiri.” Pumpkins at the tops of pages contain the numerals that match the text, allowing readers to pair them with the orange-colored, spelled-out numbers. Some of the objects proffered to count are a bit of a stretch—“Guess sixteen things we’ll see,” count 14 cars that arrived at the farm before the bus—but Smith’s artwork keeps things easy to count, except for a challenging page that asks readers to search for 17 orange items (answers are at the bottom, upside down). Strangely, Holub includes one page with nothing to count—a sign marks “15 Pumpkin Street.” Charming, multicultural round-faced characters and lots of detail encourage readers to go back through the book scouring pages for the 16 things the kids guessed they might see. Endpapers featuring a smattering of pumpkin facts round out the text.
Between its autumn and field-trip themes and the fact that not many books start countdowns from 20, this may find its way to many library shelves. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: July 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-8075-6660-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2012
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by Jessica Hische ; illustrated by Jessica Hische ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 11, 2023
Somewhat cerebral but brimming with visual charm—and likely to spark ideas in the artistically minded.
U said it!
The diminutive lowercase letters attending Ms. Bracket’s School for Little Letters, located in New York City, embark on a “Find Yourself Field Trip” and observe letters everywhere—on signs, on T-shirts, and more. When personable U, the story’s protagonist, talks to a letter in a book at the New York Public Library, she realizes how powerful and important letters and words are; a discussion with a letter on a sculpture spelling out the word hope inspires optimism. When it’s her turn to share her field-trip experiences, U recaps her conversations and the lessons learned, namely, be yourself, or, in U’s case, be U. Her decision about who to be when she grows up should please readers, though the heavy-handed lead-up to that conclusion may confound them. The story is cute, though a bit thin, with a lofty message that may go over kids’ heads. However, the humorous, inventive illustrations are appealing, with playful use of typography and fonts; many colored images are pleasingly set against monochromatic line drawings. The adorable, exuberant student letters and teacher have spindly limbs, dots for eyes, and small, curved mouths. Ms. Bracket, who resembles a squiggly, yellow piece of pasta, wears a “hair” adornment. Children may be spurred to take part in their own creative lettering activities—collages for example. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Somewhat cerebral but brimming with visual charm—and likely to spark ideas in the artistically minded. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: April 11, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-38502-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2023
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