Truck-lovers will beg for repeat reads, with little ones “reading along” from memory
When an ice cream truck breaks down, a truck traffic jam ensues: the perfect attraction for the vehicle-obsessed in this captivating counting book.
From cement mixer to garbage truck, the trucks pile up—and so does the crowd—as a young bicyclist names and numbers the vehicles in rhyming text. “I start to count each truck I see. / First 1, then 2, and now there are 3.” The use of numerals in the text encourages number recognition and creates a matching game, while spelled numbers are used when appropriate. The yellow-helmeted boy weaves through the action until the solution is clear: the crane truck! His idea saves the day, and with traffic flowing once more, all ends on a deliciously sweet note. Digital illustrations done in a muted pastel palette present an amiable city block as Cyrus takes readers on a cinematic tour of the locale. His strength is in how he uses the boy’s point of view to expand readers’ understanding of the environment, allowing both character and readers to find an answer to the problem. Various perspectives capture the imagination, but the trucks are the real stars of the show.
Truck-lovers will beg for repeat reads, with little ones “reading along” from memory . (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 11, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5809-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: April 2, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Attractive and crisp.
At the beach, a dog’s game of fetch becomes an exploration of the natural environment.
A retriever splashes into the water in pursuit of a beloved red ball and in so doing offers readers a fantastical canine perspective of coastal life. As the determined dog swims, dives and plays, a school of rockfish flurries below, a harbor seal peers through kelp, and several dolphins cruise by. As she did in Nest (2014), Hurley limits herself to one word per spread, each one thoughtfully designed and executed. Vertically turned spreads reveal the water’s depth, and readers’ eyes must move—to the right as the dog journeys away and back left to the point of origin, as the dog returns to the owner, to home. While the story arc is clear, and the minimalistic approach in both text and illustration is pleasing, this lacks the pizzazz of the author’s debut work, where the change of seasons provided a more dynamic visual display. Here, the cool palette combined with the flat, graphic style does not have the same climatic effect—perhaps if done in silk screen rather than digitally, it would be more compelling. Still, there is much for the dog lover and coastal dweller to enjoy.
Attractive and crisp. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Feb. 3, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4424-8969-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014
A rudimentary introduction to a classic skill. Up next: how to dial a phone, play CDs, use a film camera….
Hey kids! Learn how to read an analog clock just like your (grand)parents!
A big, round hole cut into the front cover and every subsequent heavy cardboard page reveals a clock face with hours marked in Arabic numerals; the minutes are marked likewise but only by increments of five. The two ratcheted plastic hands can be individually set according to prompts delivered by a bear and the titular crocodile, evidently roommates. They rise in the crowded, flat cartoon illustrations at “7 o’clock” (“If the long hand points straight up to 12, the time is a whole hour,” Clockodile informs the bear). Improbably, they get set to retire at “25 after 7” that night. In between, they catch a bus, paint some pictures (at “half past 9”), eat lunch, swim (at “quarter after 2”) and share dinner. Meanwhile, an inconspicuous printed clock in each scene provides the proper configuration of hands, and a small blue robot helpfully supplies the “digital time” equivalents on a band running along the bottom. Explanations of seconds, minutes other than those divisible by five, Roman numerals and alternative expressions (“nine thirty,” “two fifteen,” etc.) are evidently reserved for another time.
A rudimentary introduction to a classic skill. Up next: how to dial a phone, play CDs, use a film camera…. (Novelty. 3-4)Pub Date: March 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-58925-552-4
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2015
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