The clever construction of this counting book guarantees a repeat audience: After counting up to ten, readers turn the book upside down and count back down to one, where they can begin yet again. The rhyming text is spare, keeping the focus on the counting (both numerals and word names are used), but invigorating enough to mimic the splashy action of the fish. The real draw for children, though, will be the illustrations. Ingenious fish-shaped cutouts in each page overlap to create uniquely colored and patterned fish. So unique in fact that reversing the stack to read it again results in completely different fish. Eyes and stripes are disguised within pages as bubbles and seaweed, and the brilliant colors will hold the attention of even those youngest readers who cannot yet count. Thick cardboard pages ensure that this will withstand a lot of use, thereby making it a good choice for libraries looking to expand their counting-book collection. (Picture book. 2-5)
Pub Date: June 26, 2007
ISBN: 978-1-4169-3605-3
Page Count: 30
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2007
It’s sweet, but it thematically (and eponymously) replicates Dan Pinto and Benn Sutton’s Hedgehug (2011)—with much less verve
How do you hug if you’re a hedgehog?
Horace and Hattie are best friends who like to spend time together making daisy chains, splashing in puddles, and having tea parties. But they are OK doing things on their own, too: Hattie dances in the bluebells, while Horace searches the woods for spiders. But no matter what they do, together or apart, there’s one thing that they’ve found impossible: hugging. Each season, they try something new that will enable them to cushion their spines and snuggle up. Snow hugs are too cold, hollow-log hugs are too bumpy, strawberry hugs are too sticky, and autumn-leaf hugs are too scratchy. But a chance encounter with some laundry drying on a line may hold the answer to their problem—as well as to the universal mystery of lost socks. Tapper’s illustrations are a mix of what appears to be digital elements and photographed textures from scraps of baby clothes. While the latter provide pleasing textures, the hedgehogs are rendered digitally. Though cute, they are rather stiff and, well, spiky. Also, the typeface choice unfortunately makes the D in “hedgehug” look like a fancy lowercase A, especially to those still working on their reading skills.
It’s sweet, but it thematically (and eponymously) replicates Dan Pinto and Benn Sutton’s Hedgehug (2011)—with much less verve . (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-62779-404-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Sept. 20, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
In a sort of Three Pigs lite, a Jack Russell terrier makes mincemeat out of four familiar folk tales as its ever-more-exasperated owner tries to tell them. So, a bucolic countryside scene reveals three goats grazing as the narration reads, “Once upon a time there were three Billy goats named Gruff.” With a turn of the page, a little dynamo of a dog emerges, barking furiously at the surprised goats while the narrator desperately tries to get him to mind: “Ivan! You naughty dog! You’re ruining the story!” Ivan does the same to “The Three Bears,” “The Three Little Pigs” and “The Gingerbread Boy,” before the narrator gives up and focuses all attention on him—only to be ignored in favor of a nap. Catalanotto uses both keen understanding of terrier behavior and design to deliver the humor, full-bleed spreads giving way to more and more white space as Ivan intrudes and drives both characters and stories away from the page. It’s something of a one-note joke, however successful, and serves more as a primer for the Wiesner masterpiece than a companion—but there’s nothing wrong with that. (Picture book. 2-5)
Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2007
ISBN: 978-1-4169-1247-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Richard Jackson/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2007
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