A partial misfire.
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Ho-hum.
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)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-8234-3753-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: June 26, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
The pastel tones may not hold a baby’s attention, but caregivers and toddlers should enjoy the interaction and wordplay.
Eighteen (mostly) familiar favorites serve as a board-book introduction to some classic rhymes for toddlers and a refresher for caregivers.
Such childhood favorites as “If You’re Happy and You Know It” and “Mary Had a Little Lamb” as well as action rhymes including “Pat-a-Cake” and “I’m a Little Teapot” are included. The first song featured is “Old McDonald Had a Farm,” but in this version, the farm has only cows and pigs. Most of the rhymes are similarly abbreviated, usually including just the best-known stanza—an understandable editorial choice given the attention spans of toddlers. Other choices are more puzzling. “Seesaw, Margery Daw” is seldom heard in the United States today, perhaps because of its origin as a taunt. “Red Sky at Night” uses the British version, with a shepherd (a bear in a kaffiyeh) delighting and taking warning instead of a sailor. The text refers to the “Three Blind Mice” having their tails cut off, but in the pictures, the cartoon mice sport stereotypical shades and intact tails. “Goosey, Goosey, Gander,” originally meant to warn against Catholic “left-footers,” is presented as a simple nonsense verse. This darker history is cheerfully ignored in Delahaye’s whimsical illustrations, borrowed from her children’s-wear designs.
The pastel tones may not hold a baby’s attention, but caregivers and toddlers should enjoy the interaction and wordplay. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-68010-525-4
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: Sept. 17, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2018
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