Will the puzzle pieces last any longer than the thin plastic sleeves in which they’re packaged? It’s no mystery.
Pre-K Poirots eager to find out what happened to Humpty Dumpty, Little Miss Muffet, and other nursery-rhyme victims can literally assemble the clues in this set of jigsaw puzzles.
Not that the investigations are particularly challenging. Opposite partial versions of six familiar rhymes, the climactic outcomes are hidden beneath 12-piece puzzles. Each of these pairs a leading question (“What did the pussycat do in London?”) and instructions to flip the inset pieces over. Actually, just removing the puzzle layer reveals all, since the final lines and their cartoon illustrations are reproduced below as well as on the back sides of the die-cut puzzle pieces. Most of the human figures (and Humpty Dumpty) are light-skinned, but in a nod to diversity, Jack and Jill are dark brown with textured hair. Though aside from the elopement of the Dish and the Spoon, the chosen rhymes describe assaults or potential life-and-death situations, the pictures are as bland as can be: Humpty just loses a few nonessential chips; Miss Muffet’s spider sports a wide smile and a jaunty red top hat; Jack wears an actual crown on his head, which looks a little odd considering his otherwise modern clothing but spares him physical injury. For the test-and-review minded, all the figures reassemble for a closing pool party.
Will the puzzle pieces last any longer than the thin plastic sleeves in which they’re packaged? It’s no mystery. (Nursery rhymes/novelty. 2-4)Pub Date: June 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-63322-068-3
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Walter Foster Jr.
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2016
The joys of counting combine with pretty art and homage to Goodnight Moon.
This bedtime book offers simple rhymes, celebrates the numbers one through 10, and encourages the counting of objects.
Each double-page spread shows a different toddler-and-caregiver pair, with careful attention to different skin tones, hair types, genders, and eye shapes. The pastel palette and soft, rounded contours of people and things add to the sleepy litany of the poems, beginning with “Goodnight, one fork. / Goodnight, one spoon. / Goodnight, one bowl. / I’ll see you soon.” With each number comes a different part in a toddler’s evening routine, including dinner, putting away toys, bathtime, and a bedtime story. The white backgrounds of the pages help to emphasize the bold representations of the numbers in both written and numerical forms. Each spread gives multiple opportunities to practice counting to its particular number; for example, the page for “four” includes four bottles of shampoo and four inlaid dots on a stool—beyond the four objects mentioned in the accompanying rhyme. Each home’s décor, and the array and types of toys and accoutrements within, shows a decidedly upscale, Western milieu. This seems compatible with the patronizing author’s note to adults, which accuses “the media” of indoctrinating children with fear of math “in our country.” Regardless, this sweet treatment of numbers and counting may be good prophylaxis against math phobia.
The joys of counting combine with pretty art and homage to Goodnight Moon. (Picture book. 2-4)Pub Date: March 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-101-93378-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A gentle outing for children who are ready for stories of everyday life rather than just objects to name.
A brief rhyming board book for toddlers.
Spurr's earlier board books (In the Garden and At the Beach, both 2012; In the Woods, 2013) featured an adventuresome little boy. Her new slice-of-life story stars an equally joyful little girl who takes pleasure in flying a new kite while not venturing far off the walkway. Oliphant's expressive and light-filled watercolors clearly depict the child's emotions—eager excitement on the way to the park, delight at the kite's flight in the wind, shock when the kite breaks free, dejection, and finally relief and amazement. The rhymes work, though uneven syllable counts in some stanzas interrupt the smooth flow of the verse. The illustrations depict the child with her mass of windblown curls, brown skin, and pronounced facial features as African-American. Her guardian (presumably her mother) is also brown-skinned. It is refreshing to see an African-American family settled comfortably in a suburban setting with single-family homes and a park where the family dog does not need to be leashed.
A gentle outing for children who are ready for stories of everyday life rather than just objects to name. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-56145-854-7
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
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