by Violet Peto ; illustrated by Victoria Palastanga ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 13, 2018
This book does a competent-enough job of representing each season in a way appropriate for young readers, though the...
This board book explores the four seasons and their hallmarks through the repeated, titular question.
Each season receives uniform treatment: a two-page spread describing the features and weather, followed by another examining whether or not it’s the right time of year to eat ice cream. The layout is likewise consistent: a four-panel grid on one page paired with a full-page illustration. This design thoughtfully provides an age-appropriate familiarity of structure. Photographs are placed on digitally rendered backgrounds and enhanced with collage elements; they are simple and clear even though the cartoonish people look a bit silly next to realistic images. There is an intentional, successful symmetry of facts across each season. The birds who fly south in the fall return to lay eggs in the spring, while baby birds learn to fly in the summer. The “Is it warm enough for ice cream?” prompt isn’t completely effective, often forcing awkward answers such as “No! But it’s windy enough to fly a kite and… / watch a pinwheel spin.” Is a spinning pinwheel really a sure sign of the fall and windy weather?
This book does a competent-enough job of representing each season in a way appropriate for young readers, though the question of whether or not it’s warm enough for ice cream is beside the point. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Feb. 13, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4654-6786-7
Page Count: 18
Publisher: DK Publishing
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
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by Violet Peto ; illustrated by Liza Lewis
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by Lauren Crisp ; illustrated by Thomas Elliott ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 7, 2021
A disappointing twist on a popular theme. More gimmick than engaging.
This noisy board book is designed to thrill tots fascinated with all things construction.
A tactile backhoe digger is center stage on each of the five cutout pages, complete with flaps. Brief rhyming text describes the machine’s actions as it works throughout the day. Animal characters engaged in manual labor or operating other machinery—a bulldozer, crane, road roller, and dump truck—describe more work that goes on at a construction site in small speech bubbles. Finding the mouse in every scene adds to the fun. On each page, a little bird sporting a hard hat invites young builders to press various parts of the silicone digger to activate a range of distinct sounds. The digger’s track pad sounds different from the sound of its arm moving dirt. The problem is that the digger itself is passive; the track pad and arm don’t actually move. The machine stays in the same place on every spread. The caution light beeps but doesn’t light up. Savvy kids will quickly realize that all the sounds are accessible from the first spread without having to turn the pages. The sound is the most engaging part of the book, but with only five sounds, this feature won’t hold most youngsters’ attention for long.
A disappointing twist on a popular theme. More gimmick than engaging. (Novelty board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-68010-684-8
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: Dec. 2, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2021
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by Lauren Crisp ; illustrated by Thomas Elliott
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by Lauren Crisp ; illustrated by Thomas Elliott
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by Lauren Crisp ; illustrated by Thomas Elliott
by Ruth Spiro ; illustrated by Irene Chan ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 5, 2018
Leave this developmentally inappropriate title on the shelf.
A board book for the toddlers of Lake Wobegon, where all the children are above average.
As with Baby Loves Quarks! (2016) and its series companions, Spiro attempts to explain a topic too complex and abstract for toddlers. The bright-eyed brown-skinned cartoon child on the cover is inviting enough. But it’s hard to imagine the real baby who will be able to follow her example: “Baby takes three steps to the right, three steps forward, and three steps to the left.” The text can tell readers that “This pattern of steps is called an algorithm” when repeated every time the child wants to go to the toy box, but that does not mean babies can understand, much less replicate, the behavior of a computer program. As with many tech-oriented toys designed for gifted tots, a toy train is used to illustrate coding. Later pictures show other machines that rely on unseen computer code to function. There is nothing factually wrong here. And yes, parents and caregivers can follow the book’s example by inserting the language of science and coding in conversation. But 20 pages of oversimplified explanations of theoretical concepts, no matter how attractively packaged, will not translate to understanding until the child is past the concrete-operations stage of development—and even gifted toddlers just aren’t there yet.
Leave this developmentally inappropriate title on the shelf. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: June 5, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-58089-884-3
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: June 10, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
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by Ruth Spiro ; illustrated by Greg Paprocki
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