Still, a rich opportunity for repeat visits and a masterful display of the manipulation of the chosen material.
Gorgeously crafted paper illustrations reveal the interconnectedness of a small town’s inhabitants while introducing young readers to colors and the concept of patterns.
A red bus, the number 17, travels along its route—from a solitary bench against a large expanse of sky to a bustling town and back again. With each turn of the page, a new vehicle is added, creating pairs of colors: A red car joins the bus, then a yellow car and van, and so on. But Steggall moves beyond this beginning concept to brilliantly execute an array of storylines for readers to find and follow. People wait, embark, ride and interact; the weather shifts; and the environment changes from sparse to dense. A mother and son run to catch the bus, a teddy bear is lost, the mother stops to catch her breath, a driver finds the toy, and a ride is given. Every opportunity is taken to show the passing of time, and all of this is represented impeccably in cut paper. However, upon first reading, the words don’t enhance the images as they should, and in fact, detract from the beauty of the detailed drawings. Clearly, the design and wide trim size, which extends the road and allows the illustrations to shine, sends the message that the text is less important than the pictures. Perhaps different text, or a wordless approach might have been more effective.
Still, a rich opportunity for repeat visits and a masterful display of the manipulation of the chosen material. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-84780-184-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Frances Lincoln
Review Posted Online: Aug. 14, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2012
Like the animals’ knickers, there’s not much to this one-joke offering.
“Animals, animals- everywhere— / from A to Z in their underwear!”
So begins this march through the alphabet with a bevy of animals sporting various undergarments. On each page or under a flap, an alligator wears striped drawers, a bat flies with multicolored undies, a chicken dons pink-and-purple panties and so on, with a colorful block letter and a simple label floating nearby. Many of the usual alphabet-book critters are here, such as Elephant, Frog and Goldfish, but there are a couple of surprises, particularly Nanny goat for N. As the letters get more challenging, things grow progressively sillier, ushering in an extra-large pig in heart-decked briefs, a purple yak in blue, yellow, green and red underwear, and a multicolored zebra with no underwear at all. Parr’s signature cartoons using bold colors, thick black lines and childlike forms will be easily recognizable to his fans. The use of flaps here mainly seems to be a space-saving device to compress multiple letters into a spread, since they do not offer any surprises or changes on the inside, as is typical in other lift-the-flap titles.
Like the animals’ knickers, there’s not much to this one-joke offering. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-316-20736-2
Page Count: 16
Publisher: LB Kids/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
While the book is not an effective color primer, the youngest Star Wars fans will enjoy the large images of their favorite...
Creatures, characters and objects from the Star Wars saga represent different hues.
Each double-page spreads focuses on one color and features stills from the nine films. The iconic characters are here—Luke Skywalker in an orange flight suit, brown-furred Chewbacca, green Yoda, white-armored stormtroopers and black-garbed Darth Vader. Lesser-known creatures and objects help fill in the other shades, such as the yellow N-1 starfighter and blue Max Rebo. The color is named on each spread in a bold, 3-D type, and one sentence lets readers know who or what it is being depicted: “The Royal Guards wear red.” Little ones unfamiliar with the Star Wars universe will find many of the masked and extreme close-up faces (Yoda reaches menacingly out of the page) scary in this 9-inch-square offering. While many of the colors are bold and true, particularly gold C-3PO, others are a bit of stretch. Queen Amidala’s ship looks more purple than silver, and the MagnaGuard’s electrostaff does not look purple at all.
While the book is not an effective color primer, the youngest Star Wars fans will enjoy the large images of their favorite characters. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: Nov. 26, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-545-60919-7
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
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