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MAISY'S FIRST NUMBERS

Name: MAISY'S FIRST NUMBERS
Author: Lucy Cousins
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6805-1

by Lucy Cousins ; illustrated by Lucy Cousins ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 27, 2013

Cousins again proves she knows what works for the youngest of readers

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Maisy counts up to five in the simplest of concept books.

On the left page, each numeral and the written word for the number is presented starting with one. Across the gutter, Maisy interacts with one stripy tiger, two strolling tortoises, three spotted butterflies and so on. The oversized numeral is playfully presented with the markings of the animal in question; the number four, accompanied by four fish, is scaly and yellow, and the number five, shown with swirly snails, has spiral markings of similar hues. Cousins’ childlike cartoons using bold outlines and bright colors are as delightful as ever against solid backgrounds. The last two pages review the numbers one through five, and the animals are clearly presented for easy counting. The companion title, Maisy’s First Colors, also presents concepts in an appropriately simplified form, focusing only on red, orange, yellow, green and blue. The name of the color, written in black in a large font, appears on the left page against a background of the hue in question. Here, Maisy’s animal playmates (Tallulah, Charley, Cyril and Eddie) aid the mouse in presenting four colorful fruits and one blue ice-pop. Again, the final page is a review of what has come before, with a rainbow clearly labeling all of the hues. Both titles use verse to describe the action; it mostly scans, despite one or two forced rhymes.

Cousins again proves she knows what works for the youngest of readers . (Board book. 6 mos.-3)

Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2013

ISBN: 978-0-7636-6805-1

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Candlewick

Review Posted Online: July 30, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2014

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS

- BOOK REVIEW
MAISY GOES ON A NATURE WALK
by Lucy Cousins ; illustrated by Lucy Cousins

- BOOK REVIEW
A GOOD PLACE
by Lucy Cousins ; illustrated by Lucy Cousins

- BOOK REVIEW
LITTLE FISH'S OCEAN
by Lucy Cousins ; illustrated by Lucy Cousins

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LITTLE DAYMOND LEARNS TO EARN

by Daymond John ; illustrated by Nicole Miles ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 21, 2023

It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.

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How to raise money for a coveted poster: put your friends to work!

John, founder of the FUBU fashion line and a Shark Tank venture capitalist, offers a self-referential blueprint for financial success. Having only half of the $10 he needs for a Minka J poster, Daymond forks over $1 to buy a plain T-shirt, paints a picture of the pop star on it, sells it for $5, and uses all of his cash to buy nine more shirts. Then he recruits three friends to decorate them with his design and help sell them for an unspecified amount (from a conveniently free and empty street-fair booth) until they’re gone. The enterprising entrepreneur reimburses himself for the shirts and splits the remaining proceeds, which leaves him with enough for that poster as well as a “brand-new business book,” while his friends express other fiscal strategies: saving their share, spending it all on new art supplies, or donating part and buying a (math) book with the rest. (In a closing summation, the author also suggests investing in stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrency.) Though Miles cranks up the visual energy in her sparsely detailed illustrations by incorporating bright colors and lots of greenbacks, the actual advice feels a bit vague. Daymond is Black; most of the cast are people of color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. (Picture book. 7-9)

Pub Date: March 21, 2023

ISBN: 978-0-593-56727-2

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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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)