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I DO IT LIKE THIS!

Name: I DO IT LIKE THIS!
Author: Susie Brooks
ISBN: 978-1-61067-826-1

by Susie Brooks ; illustrated by Cally Johnson-Isaacs ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 2019

Not a great example of how to do expository nonfiction for young readers.

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Eating, moving, talking: “Some animals do things just like you…while others are very different!”

This British import offers informational text about animal behaviors illustrated in cheery cartoon-style pictures and juxtaposed with diverse children engaging in similar activities. The opening double-page spread asks readers, “How do you eat? A chameleon SHOOTS out its tongue to catch food.” Illustrating this are a child biting into an apple while a chameleon stands on their head, catching a fly with its long tongue. On the facing page another child talks on a push-button phone, “us[ing] words,” and “a lion lets out a loud ROAR!” Poor pacing undermines the success of the book, with each spread offering (too) many human/animal juxtapositions. Although subsequent spreads are arranged topically, there’s no sense of cohesion offered by a particular structure—the spreads could be rearranged into a different sequence without any impact on the book as a whole. The result is a title that offers lots of interesting information illustrated with pleasing, playful pictures, but it’s weakened by a lack of organization that would enable engagement and interest in accessing the information.

Not a great example of how to do expository nonfiction for young readers. (Picture book. 4-6)

Pub Date: June 1, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-61067-826-1

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Kane Miller

Review Posted Online: March 26, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
HUMAN BODY LIFT-THE-FLAP
by Susie Brooks ; illustrated by Susie Brooks

- BOOK REVIEW
GET INTO ART
by Susie Brooks ; illustrated by Susie Brooks

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THE LAST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Nancy Loewen ; illustrated by Sachiko Yoshikawa ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2011

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Loewen’s story is a simple snapshot of kindergarten graduation day, and it stays true to form, with Yoshikawa’s artwork resembling photos that might be placed in an album—and the illustrations cheer, a mixed media of saturated color, remarkable depth and joyful expression. The author comfortably captures the hesitations of making the jump from kindergarten to first grade without making a fuss about it, and she makes the prospect something worth the effort. Trepidation aside, this is a reminder of how much fun kindergarten was: your own cubbyhole, the Halloween parade, losing a tooth, “the last time we’ll ever sit criss-cross applesauce together.” But there is also the fledgling’s pleasure at shucking off the past—swabbing the desks, tossing out the stubbiest crayons, taking the pictures off the wall—and surging into the future. Then there is graduation itself: donning the mortarboards, trooping into the auditorium—“Mr. Meyer starts playing a serious song on the piano. It makes me want to cry. It makes me want to march”—which will likely have a few adult readers feeling the same. (Picture book. 4-5)

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2011

ISBN: 978-0-7614-5807-4

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Marshall Cavendish

Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2011

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
THE EVERYBODY CLUB
by Nancy Loewen & Linda Hayen ; illustrated by Yana Zybina

- BOOK REVIEW
ONE MORE TIME
by Nancy Loewen ; illustrated by Hazel Michelle Quintanilla

- BOOK REVIEW
FEEL BETTER, DADDY
by Nancy Loewen ; illustrated by Hazel Michelle Quintanilla

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I WANT MY LIGHT ON!

From the Little Princess Stories series

by Tony Ross & illustrated by Tony Ross ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2010

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This long-running British series (the first Little Princess book was published in 1986) has been adapted for television there. In this installment, her dad (in a jacket and tie, wearing his crown) has read her a story and is about to turn off the light when the Little Princess shouts, “I WANT MY LIGHT ON!”—with her entire face subsumed into one of those scarlet, tooth-edged mouths. She’s not afraid of the dark but of ghosts. Dad checks under the bed, and General, Admiral, Doctor and Maid assure her there are no ghosts. The Little Princess’s room is a bright yellow, but readers see glimpses of the castle’s arches and stone steps past her doorway—and then there is a little ghost behind her bedpost, with a skeleton toy the shape of Little Princess’s own stuffie. Ghost and Princess scare each other, and he dashes off to his mother, who, as she stirs her pot of frog, worm and spider stew, assures him that there are no such things as little girls.... The pictures are clear, bold and exaggerated to great humorous effect. (Picture book. 4-6)