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(4)
K-3
It's bedtime, but Henry Bear's parents don't want him to sleep. For breakfast, they serve cake. No, this isn't Opposite Week: it's the result of Henry's misbegotten birthday wish last year for more-fun parents. Fortunately, it's wish time again... The introduction of Henry's new friend Marjani seems unnecessary in this otherwise well-crafted tale. The art, showing an all-bear-resident village, is enticingly quaint.
(3)
K-3
Illustrated by
Amy Hevron.
Lonely canary Trevor notices a plump canary (a lemon) on a branch. Trevor remains steadfast (read: clueless) throughout a one-sided friendship, sharing his coveted sunflower seed and building a nest to share. The seed sprouts a sunflower plant, which attracts real feathered friends. Pretty and bright, the acrylic-on-wood paintings enhance this compassionate story about a friend "who gave...everything and asked for nothing at all."
(2)
K-3
Cat Vincent has lived his whole life aboard a busy cargo ship. One day, he ventures ashore searching for "home" and realizes it's "where the people who love you are." This sea-set story's apt watercolor medium contrasts bright colors with the ocean's watery blues and greens and the smoky gray and purple night sky. The readable text is spare and honed, with an appropriately bracing pace and tone.
(3)
K-3
Illustrated by
Julian Frost.
Scanning electron microscope images by Linnea Rundgren. In this nifty, lighthearted introduction to microbiology, a microbe named Min moves from the book's page to parts of the human body then to a shirt, picking up friends (fellow microbes) along the way. Goofy illustrated microbes are backed up by "really, really close up" photo-images as they comment about their environments (on a tooth: "we're digging cavities!"). A final page reveals more scientific facts about microbes.
(2)
PS
Illustrated by
Jan Bajtlik.
In this playful, visually appealing tale, a child and father go exploring in a car "as red as a fire engine." When not zooming through the landscape, they put on tires, wash the car, pull a trailer, observe a mechanic fixing the car, and more. Vivid colors pop off uncluttered spreads with generous white space. The imaginative twist ending comes on the final endpapers of this well-designed book.
Reviewer: Julie Danielson
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
January, 2019
(2)
K-3
The fourth book in this "seriously funny" animal series follows the same winning formula, this time discussing elephants. The conversational main narrative--covering the two main elephant types, plus their diet, behavior, and defenses--is supported by text boxes, signs, and speech bubbles in which elephants and others offer additional facts and advance a silly subplot. The welcoming cartoon illustrations also effectively balance educating with entertaining. Reading list.
Reviewer: Kitty Flynn
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
January, 2019
(1)
K-3
Eaton has hit upon an effective combination of silly and informative in this new series. The dynamic pages, with lighthearted, crisply rendered cartoon illustrations, are thoughtfully designed to make the books accessible to both new and more-independent readers. The main texts dispense basic animal facts while the animals' speech bubbles alternate between supplementing information and advancing goofy subplots (e.g., a hippo's failed attempts at bike riding). Reading list. Review covers these titles: The Truth About Bears, The Truth About Dolphins, and The Truth About Hippos.
Reviewer: Kitty Flynn
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
May, 2018
(1)
K-3
Eaton has hit upon an effective combination of silly and informative in this new series. The dynamic pages, with lighthearted, crisply rendered cartoon illustrations, are thoughtfully designed to make the books accessible to both new and more-independent readers. The main texts dispense basic animal facts while the animals' speech bubbles alternate between supplementing information and advancing goofy subplots (e.g., a hippo's failed attempts at bike riding). Reading list. Review covers these titles: The Truth About Bears, The Truth About Dolphins, and The Truth About Hippos.
Reviewer: Kitty Flynn
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
May, 2018
(1)
K-3
Eaton has hit upon an effective combination of silly and informative in this new series. The dynamic pages, with lighthearted, crisply rendered cartoon illustrations, are thoughtfully designed to make the books accessible to both new and more-independent readers. The main texts dispense basic animal facts while the animals' speech bubbles alternate between supplementing information and advancing goofy subplots (e.g., a hippo's failed attempts at bike riding). Reading list. Review covers these titles: The Truth About Bears, The Truth About Dolphins, and The Truth About Hippos.
Reviewer: Kitty Flynn
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
May, 2018
(1)
K-3
Die-cuts serve useful and playful purpose in this blue- and beige-colored introduction to Earth's various meetings of water and landforms. A boy fishes on a pond while a girl plays ashore; turn the page, and the pond becomes an island where the girl is stranded. The cleverness continues as a bay becomes a cape, a strait an isthmus, etc., with funny little human dramas to encourage close examination.
Reviewer: Roger Sutton
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
July, 2018
(2)
PS
Illustrated by
Julie Downing.
This cheerful adventure reveals the nightlife of buoyant baby Tessa, who grows a pair of small but efficient wings and levitates out of her crib. She spins and tumbles around her room; come dawn, she's back in bed, fooling the grownups and saying her favorite word: "Up." The watercolor illustrations in baby-friendly colors are an energetic celebration of curves--fat dimpled knees, button nose, and pudgy fingers.
Reviewer: Sarah Ellis
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
September, 2018
(1)
PS
Illustrated by
Jason Chin.
In this idyllic picture book, a boy and his family bike to a community picnic, bearing several pies. As Ledyard's text muses on the nature of sharing, Chin's detailed watercolor and gouache pictures take us through the Fourth of July celebration. The book ends poignantly, with Chin zeroing in on faces--a true diversity of races, genders, and ages--all sharing the same rapt expression watching fireworks.
(3)
K-3
A young girl fantasizes about life with a horse--taming him, exploring with him, befriending other horses, being fearless. Saturated illustrations in purple, blue, green, and orange capture girl and horse in flowing silhouette, conveying their distinctive movements, while background details emerge through tints in the wash. The girl's confident self-talk will hearten readers facing challenges or learning to dream big.
(2)
PS
The pals from Best Frints in the Whole Universe are now going to "skrool." They listen to their skreecher, read bloox, and navigate social dynamics, such as when a new frint comes between them. Again, the story's copious humor comes from readers recognizing the similarities between Planet Boborp and Earth. Bright, blobby, and pointy illustrations capture the characters' recognizable emotions in an out-of-this-world school setting.
(3)
K-3
Illustrated by
Dan Santat.
A platypus ("DUDE!") and a beaver ("DUDE!") hit the waves with their surfboards. When one spots a shark in the distance ("DUDE...?"), the surf buddies scramble for shore ("DUUUUUDE!"). "Dude" is a surprisingly malleable word, making it a good fit for a one-word (well, almost) yarn. The elastic facial expressions of the three main players in the colorful illustrations say everything the text can't.
32 pp.
| Roaring Brook/Porter
| January, 2018
|
TradeISBN 978-1-250-14154-5$7.99 New ed. (2015)
(3)
PS
Unlike the "brave trucks" (bucket, fire, tow), our bespectacled hero quietly goes about his job collecting trash. When a blizzard hits, the garbage truck sneaks into a garage and emerges--with a plow attachment--as "SUPERTRUCK!" Simple shapes and bold colors create visually approachable images. The text is spare, but there's plenty of drama! mystery! danger! in this just-as-engaging board-book version of Savage's preschooler-perfect superhero book.
(1)
PS
Inventive author-illustrator Seeger sneaks a story about loss into her celebration of all shades blue--"baby blue," "berry blue"--through a portrait of the happy life of a boy and his dog. We slowly understand that the boy is growing, and so is the dog..."old blue." As in her previous book Green, small die-cuts lead from each richly textured double-page spread to the next.
Reviewer: Roger Sutton
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
September, 2018
32 pp.
| Roaring Brook/Porter
| January, 2018
|
TradeISBN 978-1-250-17110-8$7.99 New ed. (2010)
(4)
PS
Illustrated by
Erin E. Stead.
This board-book edition of the 2011 Caldecott Award–winner is a sturdier alternative to the original picture book--even if it's not really a board-book story. Kindly zookeeper Amos McGee plays chess with the elephant, reads to the owl, etc. When Amos stays home one day, his friends have just the right medicine: they make time to visit their pal. The detailed pencil and woodblock illustrations enhance the gentle text's cozy mood.
Reviewer: Kitty Flynn
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
May, 2010
(4)
K-3
The author of A Sick Day for Amos McGee describes his life in the country, remarking on his surroundings, including the animals he routinely encounters; the mixed-media illustrations are imbued with his customary sensitivity. There's no story here, which may be an obstacle for Stead's young readers: the book reads like a prose poem full of free-associative thoughts about his dog, his grandmother, and so on.
(3)
K-3
This significantly longer follow-up to A Home for Bird includes three short stories instead of just one. Patient toad Vernon gets some unexpected help from a snail, he goes on a nontraditional fishing outing with Skunk and Porcupine, and his two friends cheer him up when he misses Bird. Unfussy mixed-media illustrations perfectly capture Stead's laidback dry wit and lovable, oddball animal characters.