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OPPOSITES WITH OWL AND BIRD

Name: OPPOSITES WITH OWL AND BIRD
Author: Rebecca Purcell
ISBN: 978-1-80036-007-5

From the Owl and Bird series

by Rebecca Purcell ; illustrated by Rebecca Purcell ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 1, 2020

Sweet! A clear and charming introduction to a standard preschool curriculum concept.

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Owl and Bird return in a well-designed and whimsical look at a complex concept.

With the help of some buddies, Owl and Bird demonstrate the meanings of 14 opposing words. Each page is divided into two similarly tinted halves, with a word and its opposite receiving equal treatment. Most of the predictable pairs (wet/dry, up/down) are easily illustrated with changes in Bird’s position. Less-concrete ideas require abstract reasoning based on details provided in the uncluttered illustrations. For example, to show the meaning of fast/slow, Owl zooms in from the left on pink roller skates while Bird sedately rides atop a tortoise. The bemused-looking Owl is featured on every spread, often appearing in multiple illustrations. To demonstrate up/down, Owl balances on the fulcrum of a teeter-totter while a jay perches on the upper handhold and Bird on the lower. The only text is the concept word printed in a large, clean black type at the top of each panel, directly above the illustration used to define that word. With repeated shared readings children will begin to recognize these words. Older preschoolers may find they are actually reading them. And yes, for fans of the duo’s previous outing, Hey Owl, What’s in the Box? (2020), there are donuts—one for less and four for more.

Sweet! A clear and charming introduction to a standard preschool curriculum concept. (Board book. 18 mos.-5)

Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-80036-007-5

Page Count: 16

Publisher: Tiny Seed

Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS

- BOOK REVIEW
LITTLE MONSTER READS A BOOK
by Rebecca Purcell

- BOOK REVIEW
COUNTING WITH OWL AND BIRD
by Rebecca Purcell ; illustrated by Rebecca Purcell

- BOOK REVIEW
CAT HAS ONE SHOE
by Rebecca Purcell ; illustrated by Rebecca Purcell

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ANIMAL SHAPES

by Christopher Silas Neal ; illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 27, 2018

Innovative and thoroughly enjoyable.

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You think you know shapes? Animals? Blend them together, and you might see them both a little differently!

What a mischievous twist on a concept book! With wordplay and a few groan-inducing puns, Neal creates connections among animals and shapes that are both unexpected and so seemingly obvious that readers might wonder why they didn’t see them all along. Of course, a “lazy turtle” meeting an oval would create the side-splitting combo of a “SLOW-VAL.” A dramatic page turn transforms a deeply saturated, clean-lined green oval by superimposing a head and turtle shell atop, with watery blue ripples completing the illusion. Minimal backgrounds and sketchy, impressionistic detailing keep the focus right on the zany animals. Beginning with simple shapes, the geometric forms become more complicated as the book advances, taking readers from a “soaring bird” that meets a triangle to become a “FLY-ANGLE” to a “sleepy lion” nonagon “YAWN-AGON.” Its companion text, Animal Colors, delves into color theory, this time creating entirely hybrid animals, such as the “GREEN WHION” with maned head and whale’s tail made from a “blue whale and a yellow lion.” It’s a compelling way to visualize color mixing, and like Animal Shapes, it’s got verve. Who doesn’t want to shout out that a yellow kangaroo/green moose blend is a “CHARTREUSE KANGAMOOSE”?

Innovative and thoroughly enjoyable. (Board book. 2-4)

Pub Date: March 27, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-4998-0534-5

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Little Bee Books

Review Posted Online: May 13, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS

- BOOK REVIEW
CREEP, LEAP, CRUNCH! A FOOD CHAIN STORY
by Jody Jensen Shaffer ; illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal

- BOOK REVIEW
ALL’S RIGHT WITH THE WORLD
by Jennifer Adams ; illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal

- BOOK REVIEW
OVER AND UNDER THE WAVES
by Kate Messner ; illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal

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YOUR BABY'S FIRST WORD WILL BE DADA

by Jimmy Fallon ; illustrated by Miguel Ordóñez ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 9, 2015

Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it.

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A succession of animal dads do their best to teach their young to say “Dada” in this picture-book vehicle for Fallon.

A grumpy bull says, “DADA!”; his calf moos back. A sad-looking ram insists, “DADA!”; his lamb baas back. A duck, a bee, a dog, a rabbit, a cat, a mouse, a donkey, a pig, a frog, a rooster, and a horse all fail similarly, spread by spread. A final two-spread sequence finds all of the animals arrayed across the pages, dads on the verso and children on the recto. All the text prior to this point has been either iterations of “Dada” or animal sounds in dialogue bubbles; here, narrative text states, “Now everybody get in line, let’s say it together one more time….” Upon the turn of the page, the animal dads gaze round-eyed as their young across the gutter all cry, “DADA!” (except the duckling, who says, “quack”). Ordóñez's illustrations have a bland, digital look, compositions hardly varying with the characters, although the pastel-colored backgrounds change. The punch line fails from a design standpoint, as the sudden, single-bubble chorus of “DADA” appears to be emanating from background features rather than the baby animals’ mouths (only some of which, on close inspection, appear to be open). It also fails to be funny.

Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it. (Picture book. 3-5)