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NOT WHAT IT SEEMS

Name: NOT WHAT IT SEEMS
Author: Paula Vásquez
ISBN: 978-1-4236-4691-4

by Paula Vásquez ; illustrated by Paula Vásquez ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 21, 2017

Ultimately the book’s concept is too thin and unlikely to sustain interest beyond one reading.

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As the title indicates, nothing is what it seems in this Chilean import.

A rooster doubles as an alarm clock; an elephant’s trunk gives a good shower to a kangaroo; the kangaroo’s pouch provides a shopping cart for a deer, whose antlers become handy clothes hangers; and so on in a sequence that all leads up to the revelation that “This is NOT a BOOK / it is a…PARTY.” As each animal is introduced, it appears next to the assertion of what it is not, so what is plainly a rooster looks out at readers next to text that proclaims, “this is NOT a rooster.” With the turn of the page, it is depicted standing atop the elephant crowing, which explains why the text calls it an alarm clock. Each animal looks grumpy or distressed upon introduction but then happy as its utility as a tool for others is revealed, a transformation that, however whimsical, seems to suggest that there is pleasure in being exploited. The animals are highly stylized and rendered in bright, flat colors reminiscent of ice cream; bold shapes are outlined in black with the registration slightly off, which gives the book the appearance of having been traditionally printed.

Ultimately the book’s concept is too thin and unlikely to sustain interest beyond one reading. (Picture book. 2-4)

Pub Date: March 21, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-4236-4691-4

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Gibbs Smith

Review Posted Online: Dec. 20, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2017

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

- BOOK REVIEW
LILY WOOL
by Paula Vásquez ; illustrated by Paula Vásquez

- BOOK REVIEW
WHEN I GROW UP
by Paula Vásquez ; illustrated by Paula Vásquez

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A KISSING HAND FOR CHESTER RACCOON

From the Kissing Hand series

by Audrey Penn ; illustrated by Barbara L. Gibson ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2014

Parents of toddlers starting school or day care should seek separation-anxiety remedies elsewhere, and fans of the original...

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A sweetened, condensed version of the best-selling picture book, The Kissing Hand.

As in the original, Chester Raccoon is nervous about attending Owl’s night school (raccoons are nocturnal). His mom kisses him on the paw and reminds him, “With a Kissing Hand… / We’ll never be apart.” The text boils the story down to its key elements, causing this version to feel rushed. Gone is the list of fun things Chester will get to do at school. Fans of the original may be disappointed that this board edition uses a different illustrator. Gibson’s work is equally sentimental, but her renderings are stiff and flat in comparison to the watercolors of Harper and Leak. Very young readers will probably not understand that Owl’s tree, filled with opossums, a squirrel, a chipmunk and others, is supposed to be a school.

Parents of toddlers starting school or day care should seek separation-anxiety remedies elsewhere, and fans of the original shouldn’t look to this version as replacement for their page-worn copies. (Board book. 2-4)

Pub Date: April 1, 2014

ISBN: 978-1-933718-77-4

Page Count: 14

Publisher: Tanglewood Publishing

Review Posted Online: May 18, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2014

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
CHESTER RACCOON AND THE ALMOST PERFECT SLEEPOVER
by Audrey Penn ; illustrated by Barbara L. Gibson

- BOOK REVIEW
KAI TO THE RESCUE!
by Audrey Penn ; illustrated by Mike Yamada

- BOOK REVIEW
A COLOR GAME FOR CHESTER RACCOON
by Audrey Penn & illustrated by Barbara L. Gibson

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FIVE BLACK CATS

by Patricia Hegarty ; illustrated by Julia Woolf ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2013

For toddlers unafraid of typical Halloween imagery.

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A troop of cats traverse a spooky landscape as they make their way to a party hosted by ghosts.

Each double-page spread shows the felines’ encounters with the likes of an owl, jack-o’-lanterns or a bat. One or two of these creepy meetings may be too abstract for the youngest readers, as the cats hear eerie noises with no discernible source on the page. The text, which consists of one rhyming couplet per scene, mostly scans despite a couple of wobbles: “Five black cats get a bit of a scare / As the flip-flapping wings of a bat fill the air.” The sleek, slightly retro art, likely created using a computer, depicts the cats cavorting at night through a shadowy cityscape, the countryside and a haunted house; they may scare some toddlers and delight others. A brighter color palette would have given the project a friendlier, more universal appeal. Luckily, the well-lit, final party scene provides a playful conclusion.

For toddlers unafraid of typical Halloween imagery. (Board book. 2-4)