by Satu Kontinen ; illustrated by Satu Kontinen ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 7, 2017
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
Share your opinion of this book
by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 7, 2023
Let these crayons go back into their box.
The Crayons return to celebrate Easter.
Six crayons (Red, Orange, Yellow, Esteban, who is green and wears a yellow cape, White, and Blue) each take a shape and scribble designs on it. Purple, perplexed and almost angry, keeps asking why no one is creating an egg, but the six friends have a great idea. They take the circle decorated with red shapes, the square adorned with orange squiggles “the color of the sun,” the triangle with yellow designs, also “the color of the sun” (a bit repetitious), a rectangle with green wavy lines, a white star, about which Purple remarks: “DID you even color it?” and a rhombus covered with blue markings and slap the shapes onto a big, light-brown egg. Then the conversation turns to hiding the large object in plain sight. The joke doesn’t really work, the shapes are not clear enough for a concept book, and though colors are delineated, it’s not a very original color book. There’s a bit of clever repartee. When Purple observe that Esteban’s green rectangle isn’t an egg, Esteban responds, “No, but MY GOSH LOOK how magnificent it is!” Still, that won’t save this lackluster book, which barely scratches the surface of Easter, whether secular or religious. The multimedia illustrations, done in the same style as the other series entries, are always fun, but perhaps it’s time to retire these anthropomorphic coloring implements. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Let these crayons go back into their box. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-62105-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2022
Share your opinion of this book
More by Drew Daywalt
BOOK REVIEW
by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Alex Willmore
BOOK REVIEW
by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers
BOOK REVIEW
by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers
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.
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
Share your opinion of this book
More by Jimmy Fallon
BOOK REVIEW
by Jimmy Fallon & Jennifer Lopez ; illustrated by Andrea Campos
More About This Book
SEEN & HEARD
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.