A book unafraid to go on beyond choo-choo.
A poetry book for the early-elementary train lover looking for some clever verbiage to complement the cabooses.
It’s no mean feat to conjure up an original train book for kids, but, by gum, Brown and Christoph manage it. With both old favorites (freight, steam, bullet) and some new eclectic additions (zoo train, whistle-stop tour, shoulder ballast cleaner), young train enthusiasts will have plenty here to whistle at. Thirteen poems touch on a wide range of train travel and experiences. From the quiet of the early morning train yards through the power of a train snowplow to the comfort of a sleeper car, each poem is worked in a different form of verse, paired to the type of train that fits it best. There’s certainly some sophisticated wordplay at work here, as in “Electric Train”: “Power from the wire. / Pantograph required. / Cabled Line of Fire. / Tethered Train Flyer.” Don’t know the word “pantograph”? The “Train Facts” tucked in at the back of the book offer further information that is bound to be adored by expository-nonfiction readers. Digital art reveals a multiracial array of train enthusiasts, in both historical and present-day views. The overall package is a beautiful gift for locomotive lovers.
A book unafraid to go on beyond choo-choo. (Picture book/poetry. 4-7)Pub Date: March 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-7636-9047-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
While the logical concerns don’t sink this ship, muffed details have it awash at the scuppers.
A father-and-child team venture out together on their tugboat, rescuing a small boat and navigating a storm before returning safely to their harbor.
Evocative watercolor illustrations effectively convey the ocean and harbor setting with azure skies, puffy clouds, swirling seas, and a rip-roaring thunderstorm with lightning streaking across purplish skies. While the intriguing illustrations are the book’s strongest feature, several illustrations do not have exact picture-to-text correlation. Some perplexing depictions that could disorient coastal readers include an ocean liner on a direct path for collision with a sailboat and the tugboat (as well as the nearby shore) and a jet shown in the hangar bay of an aircraft carrier, which would not likely be anywhere near this small harbor. Safety-conscious readers will be concerned by the lack of clearly depicted personal flotation devices on the child and father. The child (who is androgynous) is shown wearing a slim vest, but it isn’t clearly a life jacket. Sharp-eyed readers will note that the line that’s towing the dinghy the tug rescues disappears in some pictures, as does the dinghy’s occupant. The cast of characters includes people of color; the child’s father has light skin and dark hair, and the mother presents as Asian. The short, rhyming text conveys a dramatic and interesting story, but in the pictures, too many extraneous types of boats make unnecessary and illogical appearances. Nautical terms used in the story are defined in a glossary.
While the logical concerns don’t sink this ship, muffed details have it awash at the scuppers. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: May 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4847-9952-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2019
Nevertheless, if strictly factual representation of the actual construction process isn’t important, the hard-hatted action...
As this book opens, a construction worker gears up to start her day.
She and her crew operate heavy equipment, jackhammers, and other power tools as they build a skyscraper. The hubbub on the site is broken down into rhyming units of activity with a “House That Jack Built” beat: “This is the scaffold / that reaches the sky. / This is the clang / and the bang / and the cry—.” At the end of the productive day, the tired workers jump into their crew-cab pickup and carpool home. Unfortunately, Godwin’s verses waver from snappy to tongue-tripping: “This is the grind of the gears / and the smell of the diesel and oil. / These are the shouts and the cheers. / This is the sound of the toil.” Hector’s illustrations depict a diverse crew (the protagonist has brown skin and fluffy black hair) and showcase enough heavy equipment to give young construction buffs a charge. However, his details are at odds with reality. The story opens with the first four floors of a high-rise in progress, but at the end of the day there are 19 stories! One scene shows workers hammering nails into what appear to be steel vertical beams—a miracle if they succeed. The building is slowly going up, but a worker is inexplicably using a jackhammer on one of the newly poured slabs.
Nevertheless, if strictly factual representation of the actual construction process isn’t important, the hard-hatted action should please aficionados. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: May 7, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-368-01817-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2019
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