Siomades (A Place to Bloom, 1997, etc.) introduces easy animal actions and identification with a simple text and with a cut-paper collage technique that is akin to the work of Eric Carle. Every spread displays two brightly colored, cleanly shaped animals whose sizes are usually in direct contrast, while their actions and attributes are similar. “Kangaroo and cricket. . . both can jump. Camel and turtle. . . both have a hump.” Fish and hippo swim, polar bear and penguin slide, dog and squirrel bury things. On the last page, an unseen narrator exclaims, “I have something in common with everyone.” That narrator may be an unseen preschooler, who can, indeed, slide, swim, jump, and more; or it may be the tiny worm inching through the book, imitating and interpreting every action. Cheerful colors and handsome design make for a kid-friendly concept book. (Picture book. 2-5)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1999
ISBN: 1-56397-780-X
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1999
Categories: CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS
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This color-concept book from newcomer Asbury has much going for it. The spare text (``I am Bonnie and this is my cat, Bluebonnet'') and the two-color illustrations (black and blue on a bed of white) are simple, direct, and oddly comforting. Bonnie recounts a day in her life: She introduces readers to her home, cavorts with her pals in a tree fort and swimming pool, sups, watches TV, reads her dad a bedtime story. For the most part, Asbury has chosen the vehicles for his color with a nod toward familiarity—blue water, blueberry pie, blue eyes (small, ghoulish buttons)—and sometimes with real invention: the flicker of the cathode ray, the glow of moonlight. The blue tree, on the other hand, is discordant. Two companion volumes, Rusty's Red Vacation (ISBN 0-8050-4021-8) and Yolanda's Yellow School (- 4023-4), take Asbury's color message aptly into those realms. (Picture book. 2-5)
Pub Date: April 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-8050-4022-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1997
Categories: CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS
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An ingenious interactive book allows readers to decide for the characters what they love—and what they detest. “Does Tanek like milk? / … / Is Shen going to chew the carrot?” Strung within a die-cut hole, a face of perfect Peanuts roundness is suspended, one side beaming, the other glumly frowning. With each question, readers can reach out and spin the face to answer it accordingly. The book’s audience is at an age when adults constantly seek to con them—“Of course you like eggplant!”—so this opportunity for readers to take the emotional driver’s seat is downright liberating. Children’s names and skin colors allow for a broad ethnic representation in this and the three companion volumes: Teddy or Train? (ISBN: 978-1-84643-241-5), Bath or Bed? (ISBN: 978-1-84643-239-2) and Wind or Rain? (ISBN: 978-1-84643-240-8). (Ages 6-18 mos.)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-84643-242-2
Page Count: 10
Publisher: Child's Play
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2009
Categories: CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS
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