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100 HUNGRY MONKEYS!

Name: 100 HUNGRY MONKEYS!
Author: Masayuki Sebe
ISBN: 978-1-77138-045-4

by Masayuki Sebe ; illustrated by Masayuki Sebe ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2014

Not Sebe’s best, but fans will want the complete collection.

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Sebe is up to some monkey business with his latest counting escapade, following 100 hungry monkeys as they search for food, take a nap, narrowly escape a monster who turns out to be a new friend, have a campfire singalong and bed down for the night after a very busy day.

Young readers are sure to sympathize with the hungry monkeys who groan, cry and complain about their empty bellies, and their body language will be familiar to all those adults who have dealt with a famished child. As in his previous two counting outings, Sebe rewards patient readers who are slow to turn the pages with seek-and-find games on every page (and another at the back of the book). Humorous asides from various monkeys combine with questions for readers to answer using the busy illustrations: “Which monkey is biting a tail?” “Where is the baby monkey?” These questions challenge color, food and animal recognition, vocabulary knowledge, and of course, counting skills. Unlike Let’s Count to 100! (2011), the monkeys are spread willy-nilly across the pages with no effort made at organization or grouping, so counting each spread of 100 is a challenge indeed. Too, the similar-looking monkeys get a little old after just a few page turns, their expressions and body language often off-putting.

Not Sebe’s best, but fans will want the complete collection. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: March 1, 2014

ISBN: 978-1-77138-045-4

Page Count: 24

Publisher: Kids Can

Review Posted Online: Jan. 21, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2014

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS

- BOOK REVIEW
100 ANIMALS ON PARADE!
by Masayuki Sebe ; illustrated by Masayuki Sebe

- BOOK REVIEW
LET'S COUNT TO 100!
by Masayuki Sebe & illustrated by Masayuki Sebe

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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)

Pub Date: June 21, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
A PERFECT PLACE TO PLAY
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Jim Valeri

- BOOK REVIEW
ON THE FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

- BOOK REVIEW
FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

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THE CRAYONS GO BACK TO SCHOOL

by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 16, 2023

Nothing new here but a nonetheless congenial matriculant in publishing’s autumnal rite of back-to-school offerings.

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The Crayons head back to class in this latest series entry.

Daywalt’s expository text lays out the basics as various Crayons wave goodbye to the beach, choose a first-day outfit, greet old friends, and make new ones. As in previous outings, the perennially droll illustrations and hand-lettered Crayon-speak drive the humor. The ever wrapperless Peach, opining, “What am I going to wear?” surveys three options: top hat and tails, a chef’s toque and apron, and a Santa suit. New friends Chunky Toddler Crayon (who’s missing a bite-sized bit of their blue point) and Husky Toddler Crayon speculate excitedly on their common last name: “I wonder if we’re related!” White Crayon, all but disappearing against the page’s copious white space, sits cross-legged reading a copy of H.G. Wells’ The Invisible Man. And Yellow and Orange, notable for their previous existential argument about the color of the sun, find agreement in science class: Jupiter, clearly, is yellow AND orange. Everybody’s excited about art class—“Even if they make a mess. Actually…ESPECIALLY if they make a mess!” Here, a spread of crayoned doodles of butterflies, hearts, and stars is followed by one with fulsome scribbles. Fans of previous outings will spot cameos from Glow in the Dark and yellow-caped Esteban (the Crayon formerly known as Pea Green). (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Nothing new here but a nonetheless congenial matriculant in publishing’s autumnal rite of back-to-school offerings. (Picture book. 4-6)