Simplicity at its finest—don’t miss this innovative board book that’s as beautiful as it is educational.
Die-cut dots create evocative numerical representations in this clever graphic board book.
Rarely have ordinary circles communicated so much, so well. Following the title page, the book opens on a clean white page with 10 tiny die-cut holes representing “10 silver beads”; a lavish silver page underneath creates the illusion of 10 sparkly, scattered treasures. As the numbers progressively count down, the dots grow larger, becoming a cluster of “6 blue blueberries” against a bright green field or two sizable “orange oranges” on crimson. Its final spreads, depicting an oversized “1 yellow sun” and a white page devoid of any dots representing “0 white snowballs,” are simple triumphs. No detail is amiss. There’s judicious use of embossing, eye-catching silvery spheres on the endpapers, a shiny, goldenrod spot-gloss cover, and clean, richly colored backgrounds that make the dots burst outward, especially a group of “4 pink bubbles” that bounce against a lush plum background. Too often, counting books feel stale, but the novelty of the well-built die cuts, combined with the ease with which they demonstrate beginning numeracy, makes this one fresh, engaging, and informational. Concluding with a clear bar chart showing the successive quantity of each type of dot further solidifies its use as an early math text.
Simplicity at its finest—don’t miss this innovative board book that’s as beautiful as it is educational. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: July 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5248-5817-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2020
Perfect for Valentine’s Day, but the syrupy sweetness will cloy after the holiday.
Animal parents declare their love for their offspring in alphabetical order.
Each page displays an enormous capital letter, one line of verse with the keyword capitalized, and a loving nonhuman parent gazing adoringly at their baby. “A is for Always. I always love you more. / B is for Butterfly kisses. It’s you that I adore.” While not named or labelled as such, the A is also for an alligator and its hatchling and B is for a butterfly and a butterfly child (not a caterpillar—biology is not the aim of this title) interacting in some way with the said letter. For E there are an elephant and a calf; U features a unicorn and foal; and X, keyed to the last letter of the animal’s name, corresponds to a fox and three pups. The final double-page spread shows all the featured creatures and their babies as the last line declares: “Baby, I love you from A to Z!” The verse is standard fare and appropriately sentimental. The art is cartoony-cute and populated by suitably loving critters on solid backgrounds. Hearts accent each scene, but the theme of the project is never in any doubt.
Perfect for Valentine’s Day, but the syrupy sweetness will cloy after the holiday. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-7282-2095-6
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
As with many holiday gifts, the sparkly packaging may interest toddlers more than what’s inside.
Readers can count down eight of Santa's reindeer as they jump up and out of the scene.
In each one of the mostly double-page spreads, one reindeer, from Dasher to Blitzen, plays a central role in a winter activity (sledding, ski jumping, ice skating—and soccer and yoga?) that launches the creature into the air. Glitter-speckled tabs, each with small portraits of a member of Santa's herd, appear at either the top or the right side of each page, which little fingers will enjoy flipping. In what looks to be pencil-and-watercolor cartoons, Rogers uses different facial expressions, as well as collars, bows or other accessories, to distinguish the reindeer from one another. Donner (not Donder) and Blitzen are squeezed together on the penultimate spread, likely to keep the page count down. The verse mostly scans, but the rhyme scheme has become the cliché of counting books: "Eight jolly reindeer / stretching up to heaven. / Up goes Dasher / and then there are... // Seven...." Santa, his iconic sleigh and the eight reindeer in flight make a dramatic and required appearance on the book's final double-page spread.
As with many holiday gifts, the sparkly packaging may interest toddlers more than what’s inside. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Aug. 10, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-545-65145-5
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Sept. 2, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
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