BABY'S FIRST ABC

Name: BABY'S FIRST ABC
Author: Maxine Davenport
ISBN: 978-1-4998-0054-8

illustrated by Maxine Davenport ; Cindy Roberts ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 7, 2015

Still, the cheerful designs and easy handling make this and the others in the Baby's First series a good way to practice...

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Full Review: Extremely thick pages with curved edges make this early ABC a sturdy and safe choice for the youngest learners.

All the books in the Baby's First series (publishing simultaneously are Baby’s First 123, Baby’s First Shapes, and Baby’s First Words) look good enough to eat, with candy-colored edges and bright nursery graphics. Fortunately, the high gloss wipeable pages, each a solid 3/8 inch thick, are almost impervious to teething children. A toddler can easily manipulate these books, and they lay flat when placed on baby's tray table. However, the triangle at the binding created by the open book is also easy for tiny fingers to grab; eventually the spine will tear. In this title, the designers chose just one item to represent each letter, but the limited number of pages means four or five letters must share each spread. “Queen,” “xylophone,” and “zebra” are their choices for the awkward Q, X, and Z. Other choices are more obscure—“octopus,” “igloo,” and “walrus” are not standard nursery vocabulary. In Baby's First Words, the challenge of ethnic representation is avoided by using a lion family to illustrate “daddy,” “mommy,” and “baby.” In Baby's First 123, seven butterflies share a page with three similarly colored flowers, complicating the task of counting.

Still, the cheerful designs and easy handling make this and the others in the Baby's First series a good way to practice page-turning and vocabulary with pre-talkers. (Board book. 6-18 mos.)

Pub Date: July 7, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-4998-0054-8

Page Count: 12

Publisher: Little Bee Books

Review Posted Online: June 22, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS

- BOOK REVIEW
MY FIRST BOXED SET
by Little Bee Books ; illustrated by Maxine Davenport & Cindy Roberts

- BOOK REVIEW
THINGS THAT GO
by Frankie Jones ; illustrated by Maxine Davenport & Cindy Roberts

- BOOK REVIEW
ANIMAL SOUNDS
illustrated by Maxine Davenport ; Cindy Roberts

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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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THE LAST LAST-DAY-OF-SUMMER

From the Legendary Alston Boys series , Vol. 1

by Lamar Giles ; illustrated by Dapo Adeola ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 2, 2019

This can’t be the last we ever hear of the Legendary Alston Boys of the purely surreal Logan County—imaginative,...

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Can this really be the first time readers meet the Legendary Alston Boys of Logan County? Cousins and veteran sleuths Otto and Sheed Alston show us that we are the ones who are late to their greatness.

These two black boys are coming to terms with the end of their brave, heroic summer at Grandma’s, with a return to school just right around the corner. They’ve already got two keys to the city, but the rival Epic Ellisons—twin sisters Wiki and Leen—are steadily gaining celebrity across Logan County, Virginia, and have in hand their third key to the city. No way summer can end like this! These young people are powerful, courageous, experienced adventurers molded through their heroic commitment to discipline and deduction. They’ve got their shared, lifesaving maneuvers committed to memory (printed in a helpful appendix) and ready to save any day. Save the day they must, as a mysterious, bendy gentleman and an oversized, clingy platypus have been unleashed on the city of Fry, and all the residents and their belongings seem to be frozen in time and place. Will they be able to solve this one? With total mastery, Giles creates in Logan County an exuberant vortex of weirdness, where the commonplace sits cheek by jowl with the utterly fantastic, and populates it with memorable characters who more than live up to their setting.

This can’t be the last we ever hear of the Legendary Alston Boys of the purely surreal Logan County—imaginative, thrill-seeking readers, this is a series to look out for. (Fantasy. 10-12)