Make sure to see this A+ alphabet book.
Sights unseen define this ABC book.
“A is for Air / B is for Bare // C is for Clear.” These are the first three lines of text on the first two double-page spreads of this clever abecedary. Corresponding illustrations show, respectively: an open window with curtains blowing in the breeze; a child getting into a bathtub, naked backside toward readers; and fish swimming in an aquarium. Ensuing pages continue to use text to name what is invisible, with art somehow evoking the unseen. City-dwelling children will understand the tableau for “D is for delayed,” in which a group of commuters stand at a bus stop, drifting autumn leaves underscoring the absence of the bus; evoking the other side of that particular experience, “J is for Just missed it” depicts a different set of commuters hustling toward the edge of the page, a cloud of exhaust and zoom lines indicating the departed bus. One page, “N is for Nothing,” is utterly empty except for the text, which recalls the “Goodnight nobody” page from Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd’s famed Goodnight Moon. Visual connections among some spreads—such as the bus-stop scenes—lend cohesion to the book as a whole, and Barrett’s vigorously crosshatched pen-and-ink art with orange highlights has an appropriately minimalist look even in crowded spreads. Humans depicted are racially diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10.3-by-16-inch double-page spreads viewed at 37% of actual size.)
Make sure to see this A+ alphabet book. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-22277-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Rise x Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A bit predictable but pleasantly illustrated.
Bill Martin Jr and John Archambault’s classic alphabet book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (1989) gets the Halloween treatment.
Chung follows the original formula to the letter. In alphabetical order, each letter climbs to the top of a tree. They are knocked back to the ground in a jumble before climbing up in sequence again. In homage to the spooky holiday theme, they scale a “creaky old tree,” and a ghostly jump scare causes the pileup. The chunky, colorful art is instantly recognizable. The charmingly costumed letters (“H swings a tail. / I wears a patch. J and K don / bows that don’t match”) are set against a dark backdrop, framed by pages with orange or purple borders. The spreads feature spiderwebs and jack-o’-lanterns. The familiar rhyme cadence is marred by the occasional clunky or awkward phrase; in particular, the adapted refrain of “Chicka chicka tricka treat” offers tongue-twisting fun, but it’s repeatedly followed by the disappointing half-rhyme “Everybody sneaka sneak.” Even this odd construction feels shoehorned into place, since “sneaking” makes little sense when every character in the book is climbing together. The final line of the book ends on a more satisfying note, with “Everybody—time to eat!”
A bit predictable but pleasantly illustrated. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: July 15, 2025
ISBN: 9781665954785
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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