Swipe left to find people doing different jobs.
This latest in the Slide-and-Learn series is similar to Who Lives Where? illustrated by Kiko (2019), but focuses on people instead of animals. Six locales are featured: concert hall, studio, city, market, farm, and school. A lot of information is packed into the six one-sentence descriptions of each of the jobs shown in the six vignettes on each spread. The 36 careers highlighted are diverse. Yes, there’s firefighter, but there’s also drummer, fashion designer, optician, and beekeeper. With each job represented by just one worker, gender stereotypes are almost unavoidable. For example, on the “market” page, the butcher, sausage maker, and fishmonger are male presenting, while the baker, pastry chef, and florist are female presenting. Still every spread shows equal numbers of both apparent genders, along with a variety of racial presentations. On each recto page, sliding tiles hide each worker. The game is to use the clues on the left page to guess the career associated with the object shown on each slider. The sliders move easily. In fact, when the book is tilted to the left, all the sliders move left, revealing the answers and spoiling the game. Still, after a few shared readings little people will happily and independently amuse themselves with this book/game.
For active toddlers ready for a reading game. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: Aug. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-2-40801-970-9
Page Count: 14
Publisher: Twirl/Chronicle
Review Posted Online: Nov. 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
Categories: CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS
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Ten babies in 10 countries greet friends in almost 10 languages.
Countries of origin are subtly identified. For example, on the first spread, NYC is emblazoned on a blond, white baby’s hat as well as a brown baby’s scoot-car taxi. On the next spread, “Mexico City” is written on a light brown toddler’s bike. A flag in each illustration provides another hint. However, the languages are not named, so on first reading, the fine but important differences between Spanish and Portuguese are easily missed. This is also a problem on pages showing transliterated Arabic from Cairo and Afrikaans from Cape Town. Similarly, Chinese and Japanese are transliterated, without use of traditional hànzì or kanji characters. British English is treated as a separate language, though it is, after all, still English. French (spoken by 67 million people) is included, but German, Russian, and Hindi (spoken by 101 million, 145 million, and 370 million respectively) are not. English translations are included in a slightly smaller font. This world survey comes full circle, ending in San Francisco with a beige baby sleeping in an equally beige parent’s arms. The message of diversity is reinforced by images of three babies—one light brown, one medium brown, one white—in windows on the final spread.
A cheery board book to reinforce the oneness of babykind. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: April 4, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-938093-87-6
Page Count: 20
Publisher: Duo Press
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017
Categories: CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An introduction to the body for the youngest readers.
It’s an endlessly fascinating topic, but here it is explained in wordy and needlessly exclamatory detail. On the opening spread three children play: One flies a kite, another plays hopscotch, and a third hangs upside down from a branch while the text explains that “your body can do so many things!” Basic facts about each body part are explained on subsequent spreads—more or less. A spread devoted to the belly button gives no hint to its original purpose. A busy park scene with all the characters and summary text that emphasizes the importance of “Lots of sleep, good food, and plenty of exercise” ends this compendium. McDonald’s attempts to be inclusive don’t quite succeed. A brown-skinned boy playing wheelchair basketball is used to explain arm joints, and there are several other children of color in the book. But on the page about hearing, the brown-skinned tot’s prominent ears and his placement in a tree make him look more like a monkey than a child—an unfortunate association. Many spreads include a question that relates to the topic but could also prove distracting. An additional fact on each spread set in a smaller font is clearly for older children or grown-ups, not toddlers.
More information than toddlers will sit still for; not enough for preschoolers who are outgrowing board books. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: Feb. 13, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5247-6636-8
Page Count: 27
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
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