Breezy, with a valuable message tucked inside.
Can "the silliest monkey ever seen" share a birthday...with Earth Day?
It's April 22, and everyone in the jungle—the big lion, elephant, crocodile and even the pith-helmeted snake—is celebrating Earth Day with a day full of planned ecological events. Who should swing into view but Monkey, declaring, "It's not Earth Day! It's my birthday!" Viewing him mostly as a nuisance, the others offer to include him in their projects. The flamingo is planting a row of tiny trees, the zebra is picking up litter, the hippo shops with cloth bags, the tiger is composting and the giraffe sorts bottles, cans, paper and glass for recycling. But the heedless Monkey, while lending a hand, keeps repeating his mantra: "It's not Earth Day! It's my birthday!" Even the lion's roar—"Give me a break!"—doesn't put a dent in Monkey's certainty. And he just may have a point. When he shows all the other animals the yummy birthday cake his mom made for him, everyone is immediately converted. Monkey blows out the candles, and all the animals yell, "Hooray! It's Monkey's birthday AND it's Earth Day!" Wright keeps the verse crisp and bouncy while including an impressive number of ecological activities and a nice variety of animals. Kim's bright pictures combine paper, photographs, and colored pencils.
Breezy, with a valuable message tucked inside. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: April 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7614-6109-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish
Review Posted Online: Feb. 21, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Let these crayons go back into their box.
The Crayons return to celebrate Easter.
Six crayons (Red, Orange, Yellow, Esteban, who is green and wears a yellow cape, White, and Blue) each take a shape and scribble designs on it. Purple, perplexed and almost angry, keeps asking why no one is creating an egg, but the six friends have a great idea. They take the circle decorated with red shapes, the square adorned with orange squiggles “the color of the sun,” the triangle with yellow designs, also “the color of the sun” (a bit repetitious), a rectangle with green wavy lines, a white star, about which Purple remarks: “DID you even color it?” and a rhombus covered with blue markings and slap the shapes onto a big, light-brown egg. Then the conversation turns to hiding the large object in plain sight. The joke doesn’t really work, the shapes are not clear enough for a concept book, and though colors are delineated, it’s not a very original color book. There’s a bit of clever repartee. When Purple observe that Esteban’s green rectangle isn’t an egg, Esteban responds, “No, but MY GOSH LOOK how magnificent it is!” Still, that won’t save this lackluster book, which barely scratches the surface of Easter, whether secular or religious. The multimedia illustrations, done in the same style as the other series entries, are always fun, but perhaps it’s time to retire these anthropomorphic coloring implements. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Let these crayons go back into their box. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-62105-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
High-quality, inclusive illustrations make this one stand out.
From the changing season to decorations and costumes, children anticipate Halloween.
Little readers will enjoy all of the familiar markers of the season included in this book: falling leaves, jack-o’-lanterns, Halloween costumes, candy, and trick-or-treating. Everett’s rhyming couplets bob along safely, offering nothing that will wow but enough to keep the pages turning. It’s Wen’s illustrations that give the most to readers, full of bustling scenes and lovely details. A double-page spread of the children in town in front of the candy store includes jars with individually drawn treats and other festive delicacies. The townwide celebration features instruments, creative costumes, and a diverse crowd of people. There are three children who appear as the focus of the illustrations, though there are many secondary characters. One bespectacled White child is drawn in a manual wheelchair, another has dark brown skin, the third presents Asian. The child in the wheelchair is shown as a full participant. Readers will enjoy spotting spooks like a vampire, goblin, and werewolf, as they sometimes appear in the background and other times blend in with the crowd. The familiar trappings of Halloween paired with the robust illustrations will have little readers wanting to reread even if the content itself is not startlingly new.
High-quality, inclusive illustrations make this one stand out. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7282-0586-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2021
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