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MOTOR GOOSE

Name: MOTOR GOOSE
Author: Rebecca Colby
ISBN: 978-1-250-10193-8

by Rebecca Colby ; illustrated by Jef Kaminsky ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 2017

A partial misfire.

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Mother Goose gets a mechanical makeover in this gear-inspired nursery-rhyme collection.

Twenty-three familiar rhymes are rewritten with a wide range of vehicles in mind. As nursery rhymes are such a flexible form, they easily lend themselves to Colby’s motorized reimaginings. Whether it’s “Little Miss Mixer,” “This Little Steam Train,” or “Bumpty Dumpty” (about a dump truck, naturally), caregivers should have no difficulty singing, chanting, or rhythmically reading the verses on display. Each scans perfectly, never requiring readers to engage in any verbal gymnastics. There are even helpful hints for caregivers below each poem’s title, indicating its original name (“Little Jack Junker” references “Little Jack Horner,” for instance). While most of the poems in this collection pass muster, the same cannot be said for Kaminsky’s digital art. His cartoony anthropomorphic vehicles are rendered with little sophistication in their depictions and as much attention to scale. The media notes tell readers outlines were drawn with a digital piece of soft vine charcoal, but the inconsistency in their thickness between the vehicles and animals depicted gives the compositions a cut-and-paste quality. The result is a book with aural but not visual charm.

A partial misfire. (Picture book. 2-5)

Pub Date: July 11, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-250-10193-8

Page Count: 34

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Review Posted Online: May 23, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2017

Categories:

CHILDREN'S TRANSPORTATION | CHILDREN'S POETRY

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CROCODILES NEED KISSES TOO
by Rebecca Colby ; illustrated by Penelope Dullaghan

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CAPTAIN BLING'S CHRISTMAS PLUNDER
by Rebecca Colby ; illustrated by Rob McClurkan

- BOOK REVIEW
IT'S RAINING BATS & FROGS
by Rebecca Colby ; illustrated by Steven Henry

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HERE COME THE HELPERS

by Leslie Kimmelman ; illustrated by Barbara Bakos ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2018

The lack of real excitement will make these helpers fade from memory like sirens on a distant road.

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Part emergency adventure, part reassurance that help is on the way—youngsters fascinated by vehicles with sirens will be attracted to this board book.

Straightforward, declarative text and fanciful, somewhat futuristic pictures describe “a big beautiful world, filled with awesome adventures.” The second spread previews the helpers and their vehicles with profile views of six types of vehicles against a clean white background. The final spread shows front views of the same six rescue vehicles. In between, spreads focus on three different emergencies. In a busy spread headlined “Uh-oh, an accident,” readers see a police car, an ambulance, and a tow truck, while a police helicopter hovers overhead. “Uh-oh, a storm!” shows the water-based versions of emergency vehicles against a rain-gray background. “Uh-oh, a fire!” focuses on firefighters, with police and EMTs playing supporting roles. All the vehicles are staffed by smiling animal characters reminiscent of Richard Scarry’s Busytown creatures but without the whimsy of those classics. The final text proclaims that “helpers…are the ones who save the world.” The wordy text and detailed pictures make this board book most suited for older toddlers intrigued by emergency vehicles, but the placid delivery is out of sync with the notion that the depicted world is in peril.

The lack of real excitement will make these helpers fade from memory like sirens on a distant road. (Board book. 3-4)

Pub Date: May 1, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-5344-0599-8

Page Count: 14

Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: May 22, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018

Categories:

CHILDREN'S TRANSPORTATION

- BOOK REVIEW
EIGHT NIGHTS OF LIGHTS
by Leslie Kimmelman ; illustrated by Hilli Kushnir

- BOOK REVIEW
READY, SET, RUN!
by Leslie Kimmelman ; illustrated by Jessie Hartland

- BOOK REVIEW
A BOOK ABOUT BUPKES
by Leslie Kimmelman ; illustrated by Roxana de Rond

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ROCK-A-BYE BABY

by Jane Cabrera ; illustrated by Jane Cabrera ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 5, 2017

Ho-hum.

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A riff on the familiar lullaby depicts various animal parents, and then a human father, soothing their sleepy little ones.

An opening spread includes the traditional first verse of the titular lullaby, but instead of depicting a human baby in a treetop cradle, the accompanying illustration shows a large tree as habitat to the animals that are highlighted on subsequent pages. First the perspective zooms in on a painterly illustration rendered in acrylics of a mother squirrel cuddling her baby with text reading “Rock-a-bye Squirrel, / high in the tree, / in Mommy’s arms, / cozy as can be.” In this spread and others the cadence doesn’t quite fit with the familiar tune, and repeated verses featuring different animals—all opening with the “Rock-a-bye” line—don’t give way to the resolution. No winds blow, no boughs break, and the repetitive forced rhythm of the verse could cause stumbles when attempting a read-aloud. The final image of a human father and baby, whose skin tone and hair texture suggest that they are perhaps of South Asian descent, provides pleasing visual resolution in a book with art that outshines text.

Ho-hum. (Picture book. 2-4)