With its companion, fun for music-loving tots whose grown-ups like these artists.
Though this and other titles in the Baby Rocker series seem aimed more at aging rocker parents than at toddlers, it’s undeniably charming.
The Onion once ran a story headlined, “Cool Dad Raising Daughter on Media That Will Put Her Entirely out of Touch With Her Generation.” The Baby Rocker books arouse a similar sense of irony despite being quite good for what they are. Both this David Bowie–themed celebration of adjectives and its companion volume, Baby KISS: A Book About Colors, are visual delights, bursting with bright hues and simple but stylized renderings of the critical iconography of both acts. Bowie’s “SPIKY hair” (with eye patch) and “SHINY lightning bolt” (à la Aladdin Sane) and KISS’ “BLACK-AND-WHITE face paint” and Gene Simmons’ “PINK tongue” all feature prominently, for example. One stumble: using the phrase “SMOOTH costume” to describe an outfit that Bowie fans will instantly recognize from the Ziggy Stardust era. While in photos the outfit is clearly shiny and reflective (and, therefore, smooth), it’s hard for anyone, child or adult, to infer that from this matte cartoon rendering. Bowie’s “THICK eyeliner” may prompt conversations about gender presentation. But the fundamental question is whether kids should be reading about contemporary acts or about their caregivers’ heroes? Will there be a Baby Rappers series, too?
With its companion, fun for music-loving tots whose grown-ups like these artists. (Board book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-7624-6801-0
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Running Press Kids
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
It’s a bit hard to dance, or count, to this beat.
Dinos that love to move and groove get children counting from one to 10—and perhaps moving to the beat.
Beginning with a solo bop by a female dino (she has eyelashes, doncha know), the dinosaur dance party begins. Each turn of the page adds another dino and a change in the dance genre: waltz, country line dancing, disco, limbo, square dancing, hip-hop, and swing. As the party would be incomplete without the moonwalk, the T. Rex does the honors…and once they are beyond their initial panic at his appearance, the onlookers cheer wildly. The repeated refrain on each spread allows for audience participation, though it doesn’t easily trip off the tongue: “They hear a swish. / What’s this? / One more? / One more dino on the floor.” Some of the prehistoric beasts are easily identifiable—pterodactyl, ankylosaurus, triceratops—but others will be known only to the dino-obsessed; none are identified, other than T-Rex. Packed spreads filled with psychedelically colored dinos sporting blocks of color, stripes, or polka dots (and infectious looks of joy) make identification even more difficult, to say nothing of counting them. Indeed, this fails as a counting primer: there are extra animals (and sometimes a grumpy T-Rex) in the backgrounds, and the next dino to join the party pokes its head into the frame on the page before. Besides all that, most kids won’t get the dance references.
It’s a bit hard to dance, or count, to this beat. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8075-1598-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2016
The history of music is a big topic, and more-nuanced explanation is needed than the format allows.
This ambitious board book aims to promote an eclectic appreciation for music of all kinds.
Music, from drumming to computer-generated sound, is introduced as a linear historical sequence with two pages devoted to each of 11 styles, including medieval European, orchestral, blues, and more. Most of the musicians are portrayed as children, many with darker skin tones and with hairstyles and garb commonly associated with each type of music. Radford works in a retro cartoon mode, varying his presentation slightly with each new musical style but including a dancing dachshund on almost every spread, presumably to enhance child appeal. Unfortunately, the book just can’t succeed in reducing such a wide range of musical styles to toddler-appropriate language. The first two spreads read: “We start with clapping, tapping, and drums. // Lutes, flutes, and words are what we become.” The accompanying illustrations show, respectively, half-naked drummers and European court figures reading, writing, and playing a flute. Both spreads feature both brown-skinned and pale-skinned figures. At first reading this seems innocent enough, but the implication that clapping and drumming are somehow less civilized or sophisticated than a European style is reinforced in Stosuy’s glossary of music terms. He describes “Prehistoric Music” as “rhythmic music [made] with rocks, sticks, bones, and…voices,” while “Renaissance Music” is defined as “multiple melodies played at the same time.”
The history of music is a big topic, and more-nuanced explanation is needed than the format allows. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: Aug. 21, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5344-0941-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
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