A book for car-loving kids.
A concept book about many kinds of vehicles.
Simple, first-person text translated from Dutch and delivered by a child, is divided into four sections: “Want to come for a ride?”; “Want to help?”; “Want to get some work done?”; and “Want to race along?” In all but the final section, which has but two race cars, the child introduces several kinds of vehicles, one per double-page spread, as racially diverse, unnamed characters interact with them. The “work” section includes a tractor, garbage truck, street sweeper, bulldozer, excavator, dump truck, and crane truck. The brief “help” section includes an ambulance, police car, police van, fire engine, and a tow truck. The lengthy, first section about “a ride” isn’t so straightforward and includes a car, bus, jeep, camper, ice cream truck, moving van, delivery van, limousine, semi truck, tanker, and car transporter. Those listed after the camper in the first section aren’t vehicles that the child rides in, and many readers might feel they’d be more appropriately located in the working-vehicle section. There is no story to follow, but bright, boldly colored illustrations with thick outlines and cheery characters match the direct text’s style and evoke the feel of Lucy Cousins’ work. The narrator has a perfectly round face, pink skin, and dark hair.
A book for car-loving kids. (Picture book. 1-3)Pub Date: April 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-60537-399-7
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Clavis
Review Posted Online: March 4, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
The perfect baby-shower gift for Brooklyn hipsters, but all others, including the core baby-toddler audience, should...
A baby’s everyday world is paired with the sites and trends of Brooklyn, New York.
The left-hand page displays something a toddler might recognize (blocks, dominoes, and a rocking horse, for instance) with corresponding landmarks claimed by Brooklyn hipsters (Brooklyn Bridge, the Domino Sugar factory, and Jane’s Carousel) on the facing page. The art is graphically interesting, with flat planes of highly saturated, digital color on solid backgrounds as simple, white captions float above. A few of the images are toddler-friendly, such as the ABC blocks that are matched with the subway logos for the J/M/Z trains, but most will prove too abstract for little ones still learning to name their world. Human figures are created by layering just some features on the negative space of the backgrounds, which means almost all lack significant facial features and several even lack limbs. Many of the scenes are quite adult (a row of tap handles from a “Biergarten” is paired with a line of kindergarten students) and others are so specific to the “hipster” parts of north Brooklyn (two people running to catch the always-too-short-for-the-platform G train; a passenger “manspreading” on the L train) that they might not even be understood by residents from south Brooklyn.
The perfect baby-shower gift for Brooklyn hipsters, but all others, including the core baby-toddler audience, should “Fuhgeddaboudit.” (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: April 4, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-57687-785-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: POW!
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
A spectacular addition to the bathtime routine.
Pond animals join little ones in the tub.
The flora and fauna of the pond come to life in this bathtime book. Bold black-and-white illustrations are printed on foam-filled fabric-paper pages, thick lines creating easily identifiable creatures that are also fairly realistic. When the book is submerged in water, bright primary colors spontaneously burst through, bringing the animals to life. Little ones will delight in having a book to read in the tub. Caregivers can also give their little readers paintbrushes and cups of water to dip in and “paint” the animals by hand. The animals include a swan, a water vole, a family of ducks (that, charmingly, say, “quackity quack”), a fish, and a dragonfly. Series companion Color Me: Who’s in the Ocean publishes concurrently and features a crab, a jellyfish, a whale, an octopus, and a sea horse. The fabric dries quickly and is ready to be dunked in the water many times over.
A spectacular addition to the bathtime routine. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: July 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-68297-140-6
Page Count: 8
Publisher: QEB Publishing
Review Posted Online: June 18, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017
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