by Katie Haworth ; illustrated by Craig Shuttlewood ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 5, 2015
Purchase for children who need action while they read, but read along to ensure that they slow down to actually look at the...
This board book and its simultaneously publishing companion, Around the World, start with an intriguing and potentially useful premise, providing pre-readers with an indented track to trace their ways through the pictures.
If the goal is to train these very young children to “read” from left to right, the gimmick is a failure: the line doesn’t usually follow the conventions of reading English, nor is the rhyming text always parallel to the tracking line. For example, on one double-page spread, the line moves down the page, back to the left, then across and up the opposite page, to end in front of a car facing left. On the other hand, if the goal is to provide an activity so wiggly children will be content to spend time looking at each page, it might work. More likely the young reader will focus on the track and forget to look at the detailed but rather small illustrations done in the muted shades of retro letterpress. There is actually much to study and talk about on each page— different kinds of cars, houses, and hidden owl characters, plus some images not expected in a book for toddlers. (Can you find the sewer rat or UFO?) The “follow-the-trail” interaction seems to be an unnecessary gimmick and distraction.
Purchase for children who need action while they read, but read along to ensure that they slow down to actually look at the pictures. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: May 5, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4998-0076-0
Page Count: 10
Publisher: Little Bee Books
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2015
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by Deborah Diesen ; illustrated by Dan Hanna ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 7, 2014
An upbeat early book on feelings with a simple storyline that little ones will respond to.
This simplified version of Diesen and Hanna’s The Pout-Pout Fish (2008) is appropriate for babies and toddlers.
Brief, rhyming text tells the story of a sullen fish cheered up with a kiss. A little pink sea creature pokes his head out of a hole in the sea bottom to give the gloomy fish some advice: “Smile, Mr. Fish! / You look so down // With your glum-glum face / And your pout-pout frown.” He explains that there’s no reason to be worried, scared, sad or mad and concludes: “How about a smooch? / And a cheer-up wish? // Now you look happy: / What a smile, Mr. Fish!” Simple and sweet, this tale offers the lesson that sometimes, all that’s needed for a turnaround in mood is some cheer and encouragement to change our perspective. The clean, uncluttered illustrations are kept simple, except for the pout-pout fish’s features, which are delightfully expressive. Little ones will easily recognize and likely try to copy the sad, scared and angry looks that cross the fish’s face.
An upbeat early book on feelings with a simple storyline that little ones will respond to. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-374-37084-8
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2014
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by Deborah Diesen ; illustrated by Dan Hanna
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by Deborah Diesen ; illustrated by Dan Hanna
by National Geographic ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 11, 2014
Clear nonfiction for the very young is hard to come by, and it appears that the Look & Learn series may finally be on...
An exploration of the human body through colorful photos.
Every other double-page spread labels the individual parts on one major area: head, torso, back, arm and leg. Ethnically diverse boy-girl pairs serve as models as arrows point to specific features and captions float nearby. While the book usefully mentions rarely depicted body parts, such as eyebrow, armpit and shin, some of the directional arrows are unclear. The arrow pointing at a girl’s shoulder hits her in the upper arm, and the belly button is hard is distinguish from the stomach (both are concealed by shirts). Facts about the human body (“Guess what? You have tiny hairs in your nose that keep out dirt”) appear on alternating spreads along with photos of kids in action. Baby Animals, another title in the Look & Learn series, uses an identical format to introduce readers to seal pups, leopard cubs, elephant calves, ducklings and tadpoles. In both titles, the final spread offers a review of the information and encourages readers to match baby animals to their parents or find body parts on a photo of kids jumping on a trampoline.
Clear nonfiction for the very young is hard to come by, and it appears that the Look & Learn series may finally be on the right track despite earlier titles that were much too conceptual for the audience. (Board book. 18 mos.-3)Pub Date: Feb. 11, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4263-1483-4
Page Count: 24
Publisher: National Geographic
Review Posted Online: April 29, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2014
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by National Geographic Kids ; illustrated by National Geographic Kids
by Ruth A. Musgrave ; photographed by National Geographic Kids
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by Lee R. Berger ; Marc Aronson ; developed by National Geographic
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