Can you find the smiling purple eggplant in a page filled with different shades of purple? The basketball in a similarly orange page?
Each double-page spread in this large search-and-find book focuses on a different color, hiding everyday objects for children to find. “Can you find it in…yellow?” Six different objects, animate and inanimate, shown on each right hand page are hidden on the opposite one, concealed in the asymmetrical, complex, mosaiclike pieces of different shapes and in many vibrant shades of that one color. For yellow, they are a bee, a slice of lemon, a block of cheese, a duck, a banana, and a pencil. A bonus question at the bottom of the page shows one shape—for yellow, a diamond—for readers to find as well. Although most of the objects are familiar to young children, their shapes are spiky and angular, in keeping with the mosaic-inspired composition on the verso, which makes them challenging but interesting to spot. The darker colors, especially black, are especially difficult, but the other pages are vibrant and colorful. The extra-large size of this book facilitates the game but may make it difficult to fit in standard board-book shelves.
Challenging, fascinating, and fun, this book is entertaining for adults and children to enjoy together. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: Aug. 14, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-91027-774-4
Page Count: 20
Publisher: Words & Pictures
Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2019
Categories: CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS
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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 14, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Shaped pages help youngsters count to 10 and beyond.
Two stylish double-page spreads are devoted to each number one through 10 and then, counting by 10s, to 100. In the first spread, the right-hand side is a page-high, die-cut numeral that spills off the page; to its left, a squirrel holds an acorn. With the turn of the page, there’s a transformation. “One acorn becomes… / one oak tree!” A portion of the object, animal or person being altered is visible through the die-cut openings; a sand castle peeks through the “0” of the number 10, for instance. Once the page is turned, the background from the previous left-hand page merges with the full double-page spread. As in the earlier Alphablock (2013), the helpfulness of these visual hints is uneven. After 10, 20 caterpillars become 20 butterflies, 30 baskets of cucumbers become 30 jars of pickles, and 40 eggs become 39 chicks and one dinosaur. The whole shebang ends with 100 puzzle pieces fitting together into “one big puzzle!” in the book’s only double gatefold. Peskimo’s muted color palette and droll cartoon style works well with the playful concept. The same worries about the binding that arose with Alphablock are an issue here, but the conceit will likely appeal to older children anyway.
An inventive and extensive counting experience that will delight youngsters. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: Aug. 5, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4197-1374-3
Page Count: 94
Publisher: Abrams Appleseed
Review Posted Online: July 29, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
Categories: CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS
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