Yee juxtaposes images of Rosie the rabbit's front and back, Rosie on a hot day and a cold day, Rosie under an umbrella and over a gate. It's the most unique of an otherwise average set of board books, in which Rosie teaches toddler's basic skills: Rosie Rabbit's Numbers, Rosie Rabbit's Shapes, and Rosie Rabbit's Colors. The bright paintbox colors and Rosie herself are the primary attractions for very young readers, but authors such as Rosemary Wells and Byron Barton did it first, and did it better. (Board book. 2-5)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-689-81844-0
Page Count: 14
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1998
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
By turning these stiff, die-cut pages, even very young children can assemble a green monster with "two big yellow eyes...a long blue nose...[and] a big red mouth with sharp white teeth..." and then make it go away again, feature by feature. Emberley, a Caldecott medalist whose delightful drawing books demonstrate a combination of rudimentary forms to create a world of images, uses simple shapes in bright colors to build a scowling, cartoonish face that seems to float against the solid black field- -scary, but deliciously so. A satisfying game that may also allay some nighttime fears. (Picture book. 2-5)
Pub Date: April 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-316-23653-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1993
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
Loewen’s story is a simple snapshot of kindergarten graduation day, and it stays true to form, with Yoshikawa’s artwork resembling photos that might be placed in an album—and the illustrations cheer, a mixed media of saturated color, remarkable depth and joyful expression. The author comfortably captures the hesitations of making the jump from kindergarten to first grade without making a fuss about it, and she makes the prospect something worth the effort. Trepidation aside, this is a reminder of how much fun kindergarten was: your own cubbyhole, the Halloween parade, losing a tooth, “the last time we’ll ever sit criss-cross applesauce together.” But there is also the fledgling’s pleasure at shucking off the past—swabbing the desks, tossing out the stubbiest crayons, taking the pictures off the wall—and surging into the future. Then there is graduation itself: donning the mortarboards, trooping into the auditorium—“Mr. Meyer starts playing a serious song on the piano. It makes me want to cry. It makes me want to march”—which will likely have a few adult readers feeling the same. (Picture book. 4-5)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7614-5807-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish
Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2011
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