by Rachel Isadora & illustrated by Rachel Isadora ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2000
Using the Pop Art style she displayed to such terrific effect in ABC Pop! (1999) Isadora makes another vibrant series of images with just enough words to get those toddlers jumping. “Rise and shine” says the page with a brrriinnging alarm clock, followed by a page of sizzling bacon and eggs, popping toast, and a hissing kettle. That establishes the retro feel and the onomatopoetic bounce of the rest of the book, from the “whoop whoop” of a helicopter to the clomp and tap of dozens of pairs of shoes on the sidewalk to traffic and construction noises. The colors are primary and secondary hues in great geometric swathes and shapes, with the characteristic bold outlines, and dots and dashes, of Pop art and comics. Some words are in neat word balloons; others, in psychedelic neon, balloon across the page or dance over an image. The city is clearly inspired by New York, even though the library lion recumbent seems to be sitting in a park, and the garbage trucks aren’t usually yellow. City kids will revel, and all kids will delight in the colors, shapes, and sounds of this pulsating tour de force. (Picture book. 3-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-399-23047-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2000
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by B.J. Novak ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 30, 2014
A riotously fresh take on breaking the fourth wall.
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This book may not have pictures, but it’s sure to inspire lots of conversations—and laughs.
Television writer, actor and comedian Novak delivers a rare find, indeed: a very good celebrity picture book. It doesn’t even seem fair to call it such, since it has nothing to do with his Emmy Award–winning writing for The Office or the fame his broader career has afforded him. The jacket flap even eschews a glossy photo, instead saying “B.J. has brown hair and blue eyes,” in order to keep with the book’s central conceit. What this book does have is text, and it’s presented through artful typography that visually conveys its changing tone to guide oral readings. Furthermore, the text implies (or rather, demands) a shared reading transaction, in which an adult is compelled to read the text aloud, no matter how “COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS” it is. Employing direct address, it pleads with the implied child listener to allow him or her to stop reading. Nonsense words, silly words to be sung and even a smattering of potty talk for good measure all coalesce in riotous read-aloud fare. Although the closing pages beg the implied child reader to “please please please please / please / choose a book with pictures” for subsequent reading, it’s likely that this request will be ignored.
A riotously fresh take on breaking the fourth wall. (. (Picture book. 3-8)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-8037-4171-3
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2014
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by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 7, 2023
Let these crayons go back into their box.
The Crayons return to celebrate Easter.
Six crayons (Red, Orange, Yellow, Esteban, who is green and wears a yellow cape, White, and Blue) each take a shape and scribble designs on it. Purple, perplexed and almost angry, keeps asking why no one is creating an egg, but the six friends have a great idea. They take the circle decorated with red shapes, the square adorned with orange squiggles “the color of the sun,” the triangle with yellow designs, also “the color of the sun” (a bit repetitious), a rectangle with green wavy lines, a white star, about which Purple remarks: “DID you even color it?” and a rhombus covered with blue markings and slap the shapes onto a big, light-brown egg. Then the conversation turns to hiding the large object in plain sight. The joke doesn’t really work, the shapes are not clear enough for a concept book, and though colors are delineated, it’s not a very original color book. There’s a bit of clever repartee. When Purple observe that Esteban’s green rectangle isn’t an egg, Esteban responds, “No, but MY GOSH LOOK how magnificent it is!” Still, that won’t save this lackluster book, which barely scratches the surface of Easter, whether secular or religious. The multimedia illustrations, done in the same style as the other series entries, are always fun, but perhaps it’s time to retire these anthropomorphic coloring implements. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Let these crayons go back into their box. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-62105-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2022
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by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Alex Willmore
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