Fun and high-spirited—pure joy.
This interactive, energetic lyric will easily prompt preschoolers to get up and celebrate their bodies.
Chessa’s colored-pencil, watercolor, and digital cartoon illustrations depict a culturally diverse cast of lively children who proudly embrace their different body types. Whether on the beach or on stage, the author showcases kids publicly engaging in everyday activities that encourage self-worth and positive body affirmations. Children with “knockabout knees” dance in a shower of colorful confetti while others with hula hoops “shimmy [their] big bold bottoms” proudly. Have a “kissable nose” or “flip-flop feet”? “I do,” this cast of children declares. Several children wear eyeglasses, and one uses a wheelchair; their attire (play clothes and costumes) is as varied as their skin tones and hair textures. All the children have convincingly preschool bodies, and some are noticeably chubbier than others—all are equally ebullient. The call-and-response, patterned text (“Can you flap your out-there elbows? / Yes, I can flap my out-there elbows”) invites eager audience participation, both vocal and physical. Everyone is invited to this read-along/sing-along body party that is the perfect tool for any preschool setting that seeks to affirm and teach children to celebrate their unique bodies without shame.
Fun and high-spirited—pure joy. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Jan. 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-8234-3864-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
The flat ending is disappointing for a group of characters who could have exhibited a rousing rhythmic finale.
Just before showtime, the animals in the band must search for their instruments in the lost and found by their identifying sounds.
A mouse happily claims the trumpet after a congenial-looking rabbit clerk produces a bicycle horn, trumpet, and toy train in response to a request for an instrument that makes a “Toot! Toot! Toot!” sound. Similarly a beaver retrieves the triangle from an assortment of things that make a “Ding! Ding! Ding!” sound. An elephant and a squirrel find their piano and drum, and the band reassembles, led by their conductor, a bat. The animals’ questions are phrased in rhyming couplets: “The thing I lost goes Plink! Plank! Plunk! I play it with my big, long trunk,” explains the elephant. The simple, black-outlined cartoons against a white or pale yellow background extend the narrative so that readers are expected to discern objects with their corresponding sounds. The rabbit offers the elephant first a piggy bank (“Plink!”), then a flowerpot full of water (“Plank!”), and then a comically tiny piano (“Plunk!”). Unfortunately, as the band comes together, their meager performance reflects the bareness of this storyline. The bat ends the search and exclaims, “You found my things! They sound so grand. / One, two, three— // let’s hit it, band! / Toot! Ding! Plunk! Boom!”
The flat ending is disappointing for a group of characters who could have exhibited a rousing rhythmic finale. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 13, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-238068-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet but not essential book.
A whole host of children presents a whole host of balls in this new installment in the Baby Unplugged series.
There are so many kinds of balls in this little board book. Big ball, shiny ball, game ball, plain ball, spot ball. And not all are necessarily balls. Some are round objects, like the snowball and the clay ball or the blueberry that is a “tiny ball.” Some balls are verb balls, like the “throw ball, / catch ball, / go ball, / fetch ball!” There is even a gotcha! ball that’s “not ball”—it’s a cube! And all these balls are being played with by an equally eclectic group of children. African-American, Asian, brown-skinned, and blond and brunette white children are all represented here in illustrations that are charming and clear but not particularly artful. It feels as though both author and illustrator are trying so hard to include so much that they’ve almost forgotten to have fun. It’s reminiscent of One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish but without the spark that turns an OK book into a timeless classic. Best suited for young children who are already quite verbal.
A sweet but not essential book. (Board book. 2-3)Pub Date: April 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-936669-42-4
Page Count: 14
Publisher: blue manatee press
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
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