Infused with a sense of fun—a worthwhile addition to the alphabet-book canon.
Eccentric inventors travel back in time to relive their childhood discovery of the alphabet in Rachel and Donald Westbrook’s picture book.
Mr. Mazoo and Mr. Tyler are older adult scientific engineers who live in a Tennessee mansion with their inventions. (A “shrinking machine” allowed the pair to make themselves small enough to ride “around and around” on their own toy train set, “but that’s a different story for another time,” the narrator teases.) Here, the playful inventors use their time machine to jump back to “one of the greatest adventures of their lives: learning their ABCs!” As they watch their younger selves in class, the book becomes a traditional alphabet primer, devoting one page to each letter as kid pals Mazoo and Tyler engage with each of the “amazing machines and inventions” pictured: “I is for ice skates / I can do it!”; K is for kayak / Keep paddling!”; “Z is for zip line / Zoom, zoom, zoom / all the way to the finish line!” The celebratory energy of a child’s mastery of the alphabet fuels this simple story for young readers. Khan’s full-color, full-page illustrations are pleasing, particularly the vivid alphabet pages featuring wide-eyed, excited little-boy versions of grown-up Mr. Mazoo and Mr. Tyler. At the end, the authors leave readers with a question to stir their imaginations: Where would they go if they had a time machine?
Infused with a sense of fun—a worthwhile addition to the alphabet-book canon.Pub Date: March 28, 2025
ISBN: 9798341867383
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Barnes & Noble
Review Posted Online: May 27, 2025
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
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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