An imaginative counting book that also encourages shape recognition and vocabulary building.
Counting down from 10, readers view colorful, neatly stacked shapes with a hint of the rearrangement—into familiar forms—that will follow after the page turn.
The text opposite the first group of shapes—rows of differently sized rectangles, some in yellow, some in blue—says, “Mix the shapes up, move them around, and they RESHAPE! These shapes reshape into BUZZY things! What could they be?” The following double-page spread shows a large, bold, black numeral 10 and says, “DRAGONFLIES, flittering and fluttering.” The dragonflies have been created from the exact array of shapes on the previous page, with tiny black dots added for eyes—a nice touch. Little ones will enjoy the repetition in the text of “What could they be?” after each hint. They are likely to guess that the “CLUCKY” things are chickens, and will probably not guess that the purple, “STOMPY” things are “2 RHINOCEROSES, stamping and stampeding.” The text offers plenty of interesting, accessible, descriptive words, and the clever artwork makes excellent use of color and shapes. Many of the answers also feature alliteration, as in “sniffly and snuffling” hedgehogs and “hungry and hunting” lions. The ending adds a further, winning dimension by quickly diminishing any fears of the “fearsome and fire-breathing” dragon with a comeuppance sure to delight little ones.
An imaginative counting book that also encourages shape recognition and vocabulary building. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: July 7, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7636-9039-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2016
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Parents of toddlers starting school or day care should seek separation-anxiety remedies elsewhere, and fans of the original...
A sweetened, condensed version of the best-selling picture book, The Kissing Hand.
As in the original, Chester Raccoon is nervous about attending Owl’s night school (raccoons are nocturnal). His mom kisses him on the paw and reminds him, “With a Kissing Hand… / We’ll never be apart.” The text boils the story down to its key elements, causing this version to feel rushed. Gone is the list of fun things Chester will get to do at school. Fans of the original may be disappointed that this board edition uses a different illustrator. Gibson’s work is equally sentimental, but her renderings are stiff and flat in comparison to the watercolors of Harper and Leak. Very young readers will probably not understand that Owl’s tree, filled with opossums, a squirrel, a chipmunk and others, is supposed to be a school.
Parents of toddlers starting school or day care should seek separation-anxiety remedies elsewhere, and fans of the original shouldn’t look to this version as replacement for their page-worn copies. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: April 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-933718-77-4
Page Count: 14
Publisher: Tanglewood Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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