Though it leans more toward toy than book, it’s a welcome touch of spring.
Follow a garden’s growth as pages unfold vertically toward the ground.
The book opens vertically on a pretty blue songbird, and more sections of the sturdy, blooming potted plant it’s perched on unfurl with each consecutive flap turn. As the book extends, readers see more of the tall shrub with its flowering blossoms and then a bright collection of daffodils, hyacinths, and tulips planted around its base. Readers will enjoy spotting small treasures among the foliage: a nest filled with tiny eggs, a grinning caterpillar, a clothed mouse and fairy, tiny and hard at work on the next-to-last flap (where a tiny line of ants crawls up the side of a terra-cotta pot). Watercolor-and-pencil illustrations are whimsical, with the joyful florals capturing center stage, like a boisterous explosion of spring. Before each flap unfolds, readers see spare text decorated with nature-inspired vignettes that announces what is changing in the garden BUT with a bit of flair: “Flowers unfurl, calling butterflies to land.” Although charming, it’s challenging to read—as the book lengthens, it’s increasingly difficult to hold with a child in one’s lap. The book comes with a small hole punched at the top, allowing the book to be hung so that it might function as either book or decor; spread out, it could be ideal for little ones to crawl upon.
Though it leans more toward toy than book, it’s a welcome touch of spring. (Board book/novelty. 6 mos.-3)Pub Date: Feb. 25, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-56846-335-3
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Creative Editions/Creative Company
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
A book about engineering notable mostly for its illustrations of diverse characters. (Board book. 1-3)
Babies and engineers have more in common than you think.
In this book, Alexander highlights the unlikely similarities between babies and engineers. Like engineers, babies ask questions, enjoy building, and learn from their mistakes. Black’s bold, colorful illustrations feature diverse babies and both male- and female-presenting adult characters with a variety of skin tones and hair colors, effectively demonstrating that engineers can be any race or either gender. (Nonbinary models are a little harder to see.) The story ends with a reassurance to the babies in the book that “We believe in you!” presumably implying that any child can be an engineer. The end pages include facts about different kinds of engineers and the basic process used by all engineers in their work. Although the book opens with a rhythmic rhyming couplet, the remaining text lacks the same structure and pattern, making it less entertaining to read. Furthermore, while some of the comparisons between babies and engineers are both clever and apt, others—such as the idea that babies know where to look for answers—are flimsier. The book ends with a text-heavy spread of facts about engineering that, bereft of illustrations, may not hold children’s attention as well as the previous pages. Despite these flaws, on its best pages, the book is visually stimulating, witty, and thoughtful.
A book about engineering notable mostly for its illustrations of diverse characters. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-31223-2
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
A variety show brimming with esoteric and practical information.
Two youngsters embark on a journey peppered with history, trivia, and skits while teaching money lessons.
Meet Mellody and John, the young stars of this currency showcase. Their very first dialogue offers a taste of the intriguing information to come, from the ancient Mayans’ use of cacao beans as payment to the origins of the piggy bank. The book offers a chronologically and geographically broad timeline of the history of money, encompassing the past 3.9 billion years (starting with meteorite crashes that scattered metals—“the very first bank deposit”) and referencing practices across five continents. Readers will find themselves eagerly sharing the facts gleaned here, including the centuries-old origins of terms and expressions still used today. Mellody and John’s fun banter crucially reflects their experiences with money, such as their families’ differing attitudes toward allowances. Both are savers as well as givers, sharing stories about giving to charity. In one especially entertaining section, a cat and a bunny converse in money-related catchphrases that are separately defined at the bottom of each page. Stevens’ watercolors are appropriately realistic and appealing, whether depicting Mellody’s pretend bank or Elizabeth II’s butler ironing a 10-pound note. Messages about money’s use as a means to an end, rather than an end in itself, ensure that readers will think about their own purposes for their savings. Mellody and John are Black.
A variety show brimming with esoteric and practical information. (index) (Nonfiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781536224719
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
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