by Sung Eun Kim ; illustrated by Ji Won Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2017
Stick with the classic “Where Is Thumbkin” song instead.
A book celebrates the many things our hands allow us to do.
From expressing emotion and measuring things to grabbing items and pressing buttons, our hands are both useful and creative. Kim divides the book into two sections focusing on work and expression, and each double-page spread includes vignettes that look at some way our hands are helpful to us. “Playing” states that “even without toys you can have fun playing with just your hands.” Shadow and hand puppets, thumb wrestling, and cat’s cradle are all illustrated. “Creating” shows people painting, sculpting, playing a violin (bowing with the left hand), and conducting. Throughout, text boxes define terms, provide further information, offer activities, or emphasize tips: hands can hurt, be gentle; one’s body is one’s own. There is not much included here that readers will find new, and there are many missed opportunities: there is no mention of sign language, the term “opposable thumbs” is not explained beyond the label on a diagram, nothing is said of the uniqueness of fingerprints, and there is no mention made of people who may not have two hands and 10 fingers. All the people (and hands) in the illustrations are light-skinned, and readers may be distracted by the perfectly round heads, toothy smiles, and stylized, elongated, and skinny arms on the characters.
Stick with the classic “Where Is Thumbkin” song instead. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: April 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-939248-15-2
Page Count: 34
Publisher: TanTan
Review Posted Online: Feb. 13, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2017
Share your opinion of this book
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
by George Shannon ; illustrated by Blanca Gómez ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 26, 2015
A visually striking, engaging picture book that sends the message that everyone counts.
A playful counting book also acts as a celebration of family and human diversity.
Shannon’s text is delivered in spare, rhythmic, lilting verse that begins with one and counts up to 10 as it presents different groupings of things and people in individual families, always emphasizing the unitary nature of each combination. “One is six. One line of laundry. One butterfly’s legs. One family.” Gomez’s richly colored pictures clarify and expand on all that the text lists: For “six,” a picture showing six members of a multigenerational family of color includes a line of laundry with six items hanging from it outside of their windows, as well as the painting of a six-legged butterfly that a child in the family is creating. While text never directs the art to depict diverse individuals and family constellations, Gomez does just this in her illustrations. Interracial families are included, as are depictions of men with their arms around each other, and a Sikh man wearing a turban. This inclusive spirit supports the text’s culminating assertion that “One is one and everyone. One earth. One world. One family.”
A visually striking, engaging picture book that sends the message that everyone counts. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: May 26, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-374-30003-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Frances Foster/Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2015
Share your opinion of this book
More by George Shannon
BOOK REVIEW
by George Shannon ; illustrated by Jennifer K. Mann
BOOK REVIEW
by George Shannon ; illustrated by Mark Fearing
BOOK REVIEW
by George Shannon ; illustrated by Julie Paschkis
© 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.