A clever book that encourages the littlest readers to display their own cleverness.
Two insects trade riddles back and forth in Gruber and Carroll’s illustrated collection of rhymes about nature for children.
Best friends Johnny Grasshopper and Karl Bugg (an ant) love observing the world around them and describing what they see to their friends in rhyme, making the other guess the subjects. The result is a series of rhyming riddles that begin vaguely, progressing with more detailed clues until a final rhyme gives the last hint. Objects in the sky (and the sky itself) are frequent topics. While many of the details are scientific, such as the explanation for the sky’s blue color, some are more personified: “If you are ever alone, just look up to me. / And think of all the places I must be able to see.” Gruber and Carroll deftly balance the poetry and clues, making the answers fairly obvious for independent readers by the final prompts; lap readers may spend more time pondering. The accessible vocabulary contains a few more advanced words (like tranquility, freighters, and reflections) that may challenge newly independent readers. The digital cartoon illustrations from Morning Leaves have an oddly flattened feel to them, and the recycling of the characters’ postures on the riddle pages feels like a wasted opportunity to reveal more about their personalities. But the bright colors are eye-catching, and the images generally complement the poetic text, even if they do not match it exactly.
A clever book that encourages the littlest readers to display their own cleverness.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 9781943290246
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Nothing new here but a nonetheless congenial matriculant in publishing’s autumnal rite of back-to-school offerings.
The Crayons head back to class in this latest series entry.
Daywalt’s expository text lays out the basics as various Crayons wave goodbye to the beach, choose a first-day outfit, greet old friends, and make new ones. As in previous outings, the perennially droll illustrations and hand-lettered Crayon-speak drive the humor. The ever wrapperless Peach, opining, “What am I going to wear?” surveys three options: top hat and tails, a chef’s toque and apron, and a Santa suit. New friends Chunky Toddler Crayon (who’s missing a bite-sized bit of their blue point) and Husky Toddler Crayon speculate excitedly on their common last name: “I wonder if we’re related!” White Crayon, all but disappearing against the page’s copious white space, sits cross-legged reading a copy of H.G. Wells’ The Invisible Man. And Yellow and Orange, notable for their previous existential argument about the color of the sun, find agreement in science class: Jupiter, clearly, is yellow AND orange. Everybody’s excited about art class—“Even if they make a mess. Actually…ESPECIALLY if they make a mess!” Here, a spread of crayoned doodles of butterflies, hearts, and stars is followed by one with fulsome scribbles. Fans of previous outings will spot cameos from Glow in the Dark and yellow-caped Esteban (the Crayon formerly known as Pea Green). (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Nothing new here but a nonetheless congenial matriculant in publishing’s autumnal rite of back-to-school offerings. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: May 16, 2023
ISBN: 9780593621110
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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