Night-Time Numbers (32 pp.; $15.95; Aug.; 1-84148-001-0) What creepy-crawlies lurk in the dark? As a mother and child move through the familiar routine of getting ready for bed, she asks, “who can you see?” and listens carefully to the child’s responses, which include monsters, dragons, witches, wolves, ghosts, and ghouls. Vibrant collage illustrations in a wide variety of textures complement the short rhyming text, and culminate in a golden yellow scene showing an angel watching over the sleeping child, who, having named her fears, can now sleep soundly. (Picture book. 2-6)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1999
ISBN: 1-84148-001-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Barefoot
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1999
Categories: CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS
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This color-concept book from newcomer Asbury has much going for it. The spare text (``I am Bonnie and this is my cat, Bluebonnet'') and the two-color illustrations (black and blue on a bed of white) are simple, direct, and oddly comforting. Bonnie recounts a day in her life: She introduces readers to her home, cavorts with her pals in a tree fort and swimming pool, sups, watches TV, reads her dad a bedtime story. For the most part, Asbury has chosen the vehicles for his color with a nod toward familiarity—blue water, blueberry pie, blue eyes (small, ghoulish buttons)—and sometimes with real invention: the flicker of the cathode ray, the glow of moonlight. The blue tree, on the other hand, is discordant. Two companion volumes, Rusty's Red Vacation (ISBN 0-8050-4021-8) and Yolanda's Yellow School (- 4023-4), take Asbury's color message aptly into those realms. (Picture book. 2-5)
Pub Date: April 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-8050-4022-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1997
Categories: CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS
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BOOK REVIEW
Parr has a child’s take on hair’s many states—it can stand on end, blow in the wind, bubble with soap, or be pulled back into pigtails. He playfully records hair situations most children will recognize: Hair at a rock concert stands up straight, while a ‘do with too much hairspray turns into bedsprings gone berserk. Simple line drawings done in bold colors communicate the narrator’s notions: “This is my hair with my hat off” shows hair so flat a steam roller might have driven over it. The ending is uplifting—“No matter how your hair looks, always feel good about yourself. Love, Todd.” This book and its companions (The Okay Book, Do’s and Don’ts, and Things That Make You Feel Good/Things That Make You Feel Bad) have an attitude and look that should send them flying off the shelves. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-316-69236-0
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1999
Categories: CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS
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