A gentle catalyst for crucial conversations about balancing digital diversions with real-life play as well as an...
Blip, a boxy little robot, loves plugging herself into her computer all day long.
Her cord connects her to a big screen that offers learning apps, blinking games, catchy music, and even pictures of lush landscapes. When a blackout and a tumble down the stairs somersault Blip out the front door, she’s suddenly in the gauzy light of the natural world. The small robot reels. Inside Blip’s house it’s dark—just stark blacks and whites. Outside, soft, spring pigments paint grassy hills, curvy tree trunks, scattered flowers, furry creatures, and a winding, sky-blue stream. Flipping back, readers might notice that Blip’s daily computer activity is depicted in vignettes that move incrementally across the page in linear rows, with square pixels assembling to generate crude computer-screen visuals. Blip’s dramatic immersion into the varied, curvy, colorful outdoors nudges readers to compare the two settings. Blip’s real-life play mirrors her virtual-play activities, except it now burbles with immediacy, spontaneity, and interactive fun with new, adorable animal friends (a wide-eyed bunny and baby-faced duck). Will Blip plug back in at the end of the day? Readers may doubt it, as they’ve decided to stay unplugged a little more themselves.
A gentle catalyst for crucial conversations about balancing digital diversions with real-life play as well as an introduction to self-guided critical thinking. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Feb. 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-338-18737-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2017
Helpful groundbreaking for budding gardeners, despite moving parts that are far from toddler-proof.
Not Maisy’s first garden but perhaps her most bountiful.
With assists from pull tabs, Maisy digs, plants, waters, weeds and finally harvests a vegetable garden (with help from Panda, who also plants sunflower seeds). Like the snail, earthworm and various insects that look on, children will smile as seedlings rise from the rich, chocolate-brown earth—putting down visible roots, too. With proper care, they turn into carrots and lettuce, clusters of green beans and ripe tomatoes hanging beneath lush greenery. A topical glossary to the left of each growing scene introduces words like “watering can” and “dandelion.” Kicking off her muddy boots in the final spread, Maisy leans back to enjoy the fruits of her labor and admire the sunflowers that unfold atop tall stems: “How beautiful the plants are!”
Helpful groundbreaking for budding gardeners, despite moving parts that are far from toddler-proof. (Pop up/picture book. 3-4)Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6242-4
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Sept. 24, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Simple and sweet.
In the dark of night, each bird plays its unique tune, and then they collaborate.
Stars twinkle above the forest green treetops, and there’s a crescent moon. “All is still and quiet. Until...” The "tawny owl’s hoot echoes through the trees." Next comes the thrush, with its cheerful song: “TUT-TUT, OH-LAY-LEEE.” The woodpecker plays a peck-and-tap rhythm, while the wood pigeon practices "its sweet coo-coo." The sleek crow clears its throat roughly, and the red-breasted (European) robin warms up its vocal cords (sadly, misspelled "chords") with a sweeter sound. The beautiful cuckoo, flying in a straight line, flaps its large wings and calls out its own name. The backgrounds of the illustrations get lighter and lighter, going from the pitch-black of night to a pale purple as sunrise nears. Far from The Big Woods, a rooster crows, and for a second the bird calls cease, and the Woods go silent. Then suddenly, the orchestra begins; that is, the birds all do their calls in unison. Was the rooster the conductor? It’s lovely music to greet the spring day, and all the forest animals do, in a bright three-page spread that concludes the book and should get listeners hooting, chirping and tweeting along with them. The story is slight but beautifully illustrated and informative as well, with realistic bird portraits and apt description of their cries.
Simple and sweet. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: July 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-60537-113-9
Page Count: 30
Publisher: Clavis
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
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