A good, if not totally coherent, look at a tree’s life cycle.
The antiquated “House That Jack Built” gets a makeover for 21st-century readers.
“This is the house where Jill plays.” A light-skinned girl, wearing a magician’s hat and cape, is in a treehouse atop a huge oak. The art is colorful, one-dimensional, and cartoonlike. The next double-page spread adds “This is the oak that holds the house where Jill plays” and then “This is the nut that fell from the oak that holds the house where Jill plays.” The nut is, of course, an acorn. The acorn gets bounced around and pounced upon by various animals, including a rat, a blue jay, a raccoon, and more. As the text increases, so do the number of animals on each light-green page. Cleverly, every humorous line about a new animal rhymes with “rat looking out from a shoe,” right through to a skunk that elicits “PEE-EW!” from the other animals. Those animals flee; text and art dramatically minimize. A shorter second stanza, beginning with “This is the sun,” introduces a more contemplative mood as it links the life spans of oaks with humans. It is also less likely than the first stanza to be memorized by youngsters, as it follows a less-predictable pattern. Stanza two changes the book from a simple cumulative tale to deeper food for thought, but unfortunately, the style of art is much better suited for stanza one. (This book was reviewed digitally with 8.5-by-22-inch double-page spreads viewed at 56% of actual size.)
A good, if not totally coherent, look at a tree’s life cycle. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5253-0119-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
Good fun for early counters.
A one-to-10 counting book featuring a cast of active pigeons.
“One bright and sunny morning, ten pigeons” sit on a wire when along come some bees and throw them all into a tizzy. A handful of the pigeons take off—readers can count their tails in the margins of the pages—so “OK. Let’s try that again. Um, ten minus six is… …four.” Readers can see right on the wire there that if six pigeons fly off, that leaves four—math at its most accessible. Well, there are four until one finds a sandwich that lures four of the dispersed birds to return. That adds up to eight. And there they are, that now gray and cloudy morning, when it starts to rain and six pigeons fly away to seek shelter. Again, readers can count the birds to arrive at the new number, or they can work the equation that is provided: “Let's see…eight minus six is…”? On the counting game goes via interruptions into the twilight, when the narrator gives up—these pigeons won’t stay still long enough to introduce them—until it comes time to go to bed and end the story. Citro’s exasperated text works hand in glove with Watson’s comical birds to make this counting game a joy rather than a task. The narrative text expresses equations in words, and corresponding number sentences are tucked into the scenes.
Good fun for early counters. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-943147-62-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: The Innovation Press
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends
Gerald the elephant learns a truth familiar to every preschooler—heck, every human: “Waiting is not easy!”
When Piggie cartwheels up to Gerald announcing that she has a surprise for him, Gerald is less than pleased to learn that the “surprise is a surprise.” Gerald pumps Piggie for information (it’s big, it’s pretty, and they can share it), but Piggie holds fast on this basic principle: Gerald will have to wait. Gerald lets out an almighty “GROAN!” Variations on this basic exchange occur throughout the day; Gerald pleads, Piggie insists they must wait; Gerald groans. As the day turns to twilight (signaled by the backgrounds that darken from mauve to gray to charcoal), Gerald gets grumpy. “WE HAVE WASTED THE WHOLE DAY!…And for WHAT!?” Piggie then gestures up to the Milky Way, which an awed Gerald acknowledges “was worth the wait.” Willems relies even more than usual on the slightest of changes in posture, layout and typography, as two waiting figures can’t help but be pretty static. At one point, Piggie assumes the lotus position, infuriating Gerald. Most amusingly, Gerald’s elephantine groans assume weighty physicality in spread-filling speech bubbles that knock Piggie to the ground. And the spectacular, photo-collaged images of the Milky Way that dwarf the two friends makes it clear that it was indeed worth the wait.
A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends . (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4231-9957-1
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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