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MAX AND RUBY'S PRESCHOOL PRANKS

Name: MAX AND RUBY'S PRESCHOOL PRANKS
Author: Rosemary Wells
ISBN: 978-0-670-78462-2

From the Max & Ruby series

by Rosemary Wells ; illustrated by Rosemary Wells ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 26, 2016

The science project adds an unusual wrinkle to this primer for incoming nursery schoolers.

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Even when most of the “students” are plush, playroom preschool isn’t always going to be an orderly environment.

After firmly divesting Max of his gorilla suit and setting brown rabbit Lily’s volcano kit on a high shelf, “Miss Ruby” and “Miss Louise” (Ruby’s friend and Lily’s older sister) gamely string up numbers, review basic shapes, and establish rules. The tykes will have none of it: Max spots the hidden gorilla suit, and as soon as floppy Can’t-Sit-Up Slug needs to be carried off to the nurse, down comes the volcano kit. Off to the kitchen Lily and Max hustle, to add ingredients (“Paprika!” “Ketchup, sprinkles, and marmalade!”) to the baking soda–and-vinegar recipe. “Boom!” says Max admiringly, as the volcano does its thing. The “teachers’ ” rules, along with diverse classroom activities and the kit’s recipe, are hidden beneath flaps that resemble little workbooks. The toddler-shaped lagomorphs in the illustrations are as winning as ever, and along with photographed jars of rice, grains, sprinkles, and alphabet-soup letters inserted into the kitchen scene, Wells concocts a gloriously messy climactic eruption.

The science project adds an unusual wrinkle to this primer for incoming nursery schoolers. (Picture book. 3-5)

Pub Date: July 26, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-670-78462-2

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: May 31, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

- BOOK REVIEW
ON THE NIGHT BEFORE KINDERGARTEN
by Rosemary Wells ; illustrated by Rosemary Wells

- BOOK REVIEW
IF YOU BELIEVE IN ME
by Rosemary Wells ; illustrated by Rosemary Wells

- BOOK REVIEW
LITTLE BUNNY, BIG GERMS
by Rosemary Wells ; illustrated by Rosemary Wells

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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)

Pub Date: June 9, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-250-00934-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

- BOOK REVIEW
CON POLLO
by Jimmy Fallon & Jennifer Lopez ; illustrated by Andrea Campos

- SEEN & HEARD
Jimmy Fallon Christmas Book Coming This Fall

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WILL YOU BE MY FRIEND?

by Sam McBratney ; illustrated by Anita Jeram ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 29, 2020

Readers are likely to love it to the moon and back.

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Little Nutbrown Hare ventures out into the wide world and comes back with a new companion in this sequel to Guess How Much I Love You (1994).

Big Nutbrown Hare is too busy, so after asking permission, Little Nutbrown Hare scampers off over the rolling meadow to play by himself. After discovering that neither his shadow nor his reflection make satisfactory playmates (“You’re only another me!”), Little Nutbrown comes to Cloudy Mountain…and meets “Someone real!” It’s a white bunny who introduces herself as Tipps. But a wonderful round of digging and building and chasing about reaches an unexpected end with a game of hide-and-seek, because both hares hide! After waiting a long time to be found, Little Nutbrown Hare hops on home in disappointment, wondering whether he’ll ever see Tipps again. As it turns out, it doesn’t take long to find out, since she has followed him. “Now, where on earth did she come from?” wonders Big Nutbrown. “Her name is Tipps,” Little Nutbrown proudly replies, “and she’s my friend.” Jeram’s spacious, pale-toned, naturalistic outdoor scenes create a properly idyllic setting for this cozy development in a tender child-caregiver relationship—which hasn’t lost a bit of its appealing intimacy in the more than 25 years since its first appearance. As in the first, Big Nutbrown Hare is ungendered, facilitating pleasingly flexible readings.

Readers are likely to love it to the moon and back. (Picture book. 3-5)