A plain alphabet picture book that drops the ball.
A simple alphabet book that explores balls from around the world—and a few other round objects, as well.
Using minimal text and stock photos from Getty Images, Snyder (Good Day, Broncos, 2014) has created an abstemious alphabet book. Each page features a capital letter in the upper-left or upper-right corner, in aqua, red, or dark gray. The book’s only words are the names of the balls (in colors that match the letters) and a brief activity section after the final ball. Over its course, the book uses 25 types of balls, the planet Earth, and a marble to populate the alphabet (“B” gets both “baseball” and “basketball”). Three of the 25 use descriptions in order to fit the alphabet paradigm (“quick ball,” “unhappy ball,” and “eXtra small ball”). The remaining 22 are predominantly sports balls, save for “disco ball,” “hamster ball,” “origami ball,” “yarn ball,” and “zoo ball.” The stock photos come in a range of sizes and vary from the cartoonish to the realistic. All are shown on a plain, white background; some include shadows, some don’t, and others have partial, cropped shadowing. Most of the words helpfully include the initial sound (phoneme) for the letter, which will allow young children to begin to associate the letter’s sound with its symbol. (Both “cricket ball” and “golf ball,” provide only the hard versions of multisound consonants C and G.) However, much of the allure of simple alphabet books lies in their illustrations, and the stark images here are unsatisfactory. Likewise, the small letters in the pages’ corners don’t effectively reinforce the images’ connections to the alphabet. In a book as spare as this one, the sole use of the text seems to be to introduce the alphabetic principle, but this simple listing of balls doesn’t approach the level of engagement of other, similar books.
A plain alphabet picture book that drops the ball.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2014
ISBN: 978-0692245286
Page Count: 30
Publisher: PenDragon Press
Review Posted Online: May 14, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
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