Wordplay? Count on it.
When a classroom empties for recess, scattered plastic numbers and letters get together to compare differences and similarities.
Unfortunately, the differences stand out more than the similarities. “A” argues with “1” about who really comes first; “E” criticizes the posture of “3”; “b” and “d” indignantly reject an offer from “6” to become triplets (“We are very different letters!” protests the former; “And we get mixed up enough as it is,” complains the latter); and both sides squabble about who’s most curvy. Tensions nearly break out into open war until, at the last moment, with a loud “STOP,” the wall clock’s Roman numerals step in (figuratively) to point out that if letters such as “I” and “V” can stand for numbers, there must be common ground. (Young readers unfamiliar with analog clocks, let alone Roman numerals, may need more than the glancing explanation provided.) Détente is restored (except for “A,” who can’t quite grasp the distinction between “first” and “number 1”) just as the children, a diverse lot in Laberis’ cartoon scenes, come tumbling back in. Fledgling readers further along in recognition skills will likely find Mike Boldt’s similarly premised 123 Versus ABC (2013) a cleverer romp, but those still needing some practice in minding their p’s and q’s will chuckle over this broader, simpler contretemps.
Wordplay? Count on it. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Jan. 21, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4052-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
A welcome addition to autumnal storytelling—and to tales of traditional enemies overcoming their history.
Ferry and the Fans portray a popular seasonal character’s unlikely friendship.
Initially, the protagonist is shown in his solitary world: “Scarecrow stands alone and scares / the fox and deer, / the mice and crows. / It’s all he does. It’s all he knows.” His presence is effective; the animals stay outside the fenced-in fields, but the omniscient narrator laments the character’s lack of friends or places to go. Everything changes when a baby crow falls nearby. Breaking his pole so he can bend, the scarecrow picks it up, placing the creature in the bib of his overalls while singing a lullaby. Both abandon natural tendencies until the crow learns to fly—and thus departs. The aabb rhyme scheme flows reasonably well, propelling the narrative through fall, winter, and spring, when the mature crow returns with a mate to build a nest in the overalls bib that once was his home. The Fan brothers capture the emotional tenor of the seasons and the main character in their panoramic pencil, ballpoint, and digital compositions. Particularly poignant is the close-up of the scarecrow’s burlap face, his stitched mouth and leaf-rimmed head conveying such sadness after his companion goes. Some adults may wonder why the scarecrow seems to have only partial agency, but children will be tuned into the problem, gratified by the resolution.
A welcome addition to autumnal storytelling—and to tales of traditional enemies overcoming their history. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-247576-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 7, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2019
Low grade.
A gray character tries to write an all-gray book.
The six primary and secondary colors are building a rainbow, each contributing the hue of their own body, and Gray feels forlorn and left out because rainbows contain no gray. So Gray—who, like the other characters, has a solid, triangular body, a doodle-style face, and stick limbs—sets off alone to create “the GRAYest book ever.” His book inside a book shows a peaceful gray cliff house near a gray sea with gentle whitecaps; his three gray characters—hippo, wolf, kitten—wait for their arc to begin. But then the primaries arrive and call the gray scene “dismal, bleak, and gloomy.” The secondaries show up too, and soon everyone’s overrunning Gray’s creation. When Gray refuses to let White and Black participate, astute readers will note the flaw: White and black (the colors) had already been included in the early all-gray spreads. Ironically, Gray’s book within a book displays calm, passable art while the metabook’s unsubtle illustrations and sloppy design make for cramped and crowded pages that are too busy to hold visual focus. The speech-bubble dialogue’s snappy enough (Blue calls people “dude,” and there are puns). A convoluted moral muddles the core artistic question—whether a whole book can be gray—and instead highlights a trite message about working together.
Low grade. (glossary) (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5420-4340-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Two Lions
Review Posted Online: July 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
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