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ROUND IS A MOONCAKE

A BOOK OF SHAPES

The Asian theme sparks a multicultural learning opportunity as a lively young girl observes shapes in the world around her in this delightful debut by Thong and Lin. A round shape is a mooncake and a rice bowl, a square is a name chop and a checkerboard, and a rectangle is a mobile phone and an inking stone. Only three shapes are introduced but a few objects represent each shape; some are universally recognized and others are specific to American-Chinese culture. Simple rhymes accompany each illustration. Thong’s text provides discussion starters for audience participation. “I can name more square things, can you?” This feature lends itself to a group read-aloud or an intimate storytime with a single child. Lin’s gouache illustrations are bold and colorful, lively, and filled with childlike wonder. Family and friends interact in scenes that depict everyday life in a suburban setting. The image of “square,” for example, has the reader looking through the windows of the house where the family is eating pizza and dim sum. Another illustration shows the girl writing Chinese letters with brush and inking stones as her father standing nearby speaks on a mobile phone. A charming and instructive math concept book. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2000

ISBN: 0-8118-2676-7

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Chronicle Books

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2000

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CHICKA CHICKA HO HO HO

From the Chicka Chicka Book series

A successful swap from coconut tree to Christmas tree.

A Christmas edition of the beloved alphabet book.

The story starts off nearly identically to Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (1989), written by John Archambault and the late Bill Martin Jr, with the letters A, B, and C deciding to meet in the branches of a tree. This time, they’re attempting to scale a Christmas tree, not a coconut tree, and the letters are strung together like garland. A, B, and C are joined by the other letters, and of course they all “slip, slop, topple, plop!” right down the tree. At the bottom, they discover an assortment of gifts, all in a variety of shapes. As a team, the letters and presents organize themselves to get back up on the Christmas tree and get a star to the top. Holiday iterations of favorite tales often fall flat, but this take succeeds. The gifts are an easy way to reinforce another preschool concept—shapes—and the text uses just enough of the original to be familiar. The rhyming works, sticking to the cadence of the source material. The illustrations pay homage to the late Lois Ehlert’s, featuring the same bold block letters, though they lack some of the whimsy and personality of the original. Otherwise, everything is similarly brightly colored and simply drawn. Those familiar with the classic will be drawn to this one, but newcomers can enjoy it on its own.

A successful swap from coconut tree to Christmas tree. (Picture book. 3-5)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024

ISBN: 9781665954761

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.

The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: June 21, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016

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