While it’s not as creative as the works of Hervé Tullet, his fans may enjoy this different kind of interactive book.
Finnish graphic designer Kontinen brings her internationally popular world of digital animals to the U.S.
The Mokomaki are small birds with large black eyes that live in the forest of Mokomaka. These birds also like to travel, and as readers turn the introductory page, a giraffe parent implores the Mokomaki to help find its baby. With the clue “He’s the tiniest of all,” readers join the Mokomaki in sorting through three different baby giraffes to determine the correct one. In each double-page spread, another animal parent with an oversized head and equally big, expressive eyes asks for help in finding its lost baby. The task becomes increasingly challenging as the number of baby animals grows and the clues become more difficult. For instance, a monkey parent asks the Mokomaki to find its twins: “They’ve tied their tails in knots!” With 24 monkeys looping tails, joining hands, and pulling on tails, it’s a challenge even for adults to find a pair with knotted tails. Comments throughout by the little birds keep the book lively. Adult readers may find the static, geometrically composed animals uninspiring, but youngsters used to digital games and videos will have no qualms as they practice their visual literacy skills, sorting, counting, naming colors, and looking for clues.
While it’s not as creative as the works of Hervé Tullet, his fans may enjoy this different kind of interactive book. (Picture book. 2-6)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-57687-805-7
Page Count: 24
Publisher: POW!
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
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
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Innovative and thoroughly enjoyable.
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
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