Luli's love of colors comes across as both genuine and infectious.
An appropriately bright primer on the major colors, this tour through the rainbow seems ideally suited to toddlers learning to associate words with objects.
Luli, who has red, spaghettilike hair and appears to be made of clay, enjoys colors the way most people enjoy the changing seasons. On each page, she interacts with similar clay-made objects of a distinct color, from red and orange through the spectrum to white and the black of nighttime that ends the story. In Luli's world, "Yellow paints everything shiny and bright / Bananas and sunflowers, a special delight." As ever-present small butterflies flutter, a yellow monkey holds a large banana, and Luli basks under a huge, buttery sun. Luli's clothing and activity change on each page (but not her hair). The color list is by no means complete, but the app feels about the right length, and few children will quibble when they see Luli sailing down a rainbow at the story's conclusion. While the text, all flutters and sugar with cream, may seem oversweet to adult readers, it is age-appropriate for children young enough to be learning to name colors. The app's narration is clunkily hidden in a set of lips that must be activated manually on each page, but understated animations and the well-composed clay imagery more than make up for that misstep.
Luli's love of colors comes across as both genuine and infectious. (iPad storybook app. 18 mo.-5)Pub Date: June 7, 2012
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Rotem Omri & Rachel Mislovaty
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own...
The sturdy Little Blue Truck is back for his third adventure, this time delivering Christmas trees to his band of animal pals.
The truck is decked out for the season with a Christmas wreath that suggests a nose between headlights acting as eyeballs. Little Blue loads up with trees at Toad’s Trees, where five trees are marked with numbered tags. These five trees are counted and arithmetically manipulated in various ways throughout the rhyming story as they are dropped off one by one to Little Blue’s friends. The final tree is reserved for the truck’s own use at his garage home, where he is welcomed back by the tree salestoad in a neatly circular fashion. The last tree is already decorated, and Little Blue gets a surprise along with readers, as tiny lights embedded in the illustrations sparkle for a few seconds when the last page is turned. Though it’s a gimmick, it’s a pleasant surprise, and it fits with the retro atmosphere of the snowy country scenes. The short, rhyming text is accented with colored highlights, red for the animal sounds and bright green for the numerical words in the Christmas-tree countdown.
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own tree that will put a twinkle in a toddler’s eyes. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-32041-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A joyful celebration.
Families in a variety of configurations play, dance, and celebrate together.
The rhymed verse, based on a song from the Noodle Loaf children’s podcast, declares that “Families belong / Together like a puzzle / Different-sized people / One big snuggle.” The accompanying image shows an interracial couple of caregivers (one with brown skin and one pale) cuddling with a pajama-clad toddler with light brown skin and surrounded by two cats and a dog. Subsequent pages show a wide array of families with members of many different racial presentations engaging in bike and bus rides, indoor dance parties, and more. In some, readers see only one caregiver: a father or a grandparent, perhaps. One same-sex couple with two children in tow are expecting another child. Smart’s illustrations are playful and expressive, curating the most joyful moments of family life. The verse, punctuated by the word together, frequently set in oversized font, is gently inclusive at its best but may trip up readers with its irregular rhythms. The song that inspired the book can be found on the Noodle Loaf website.
A joyful celebration. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-22276-8
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Rise x Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
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