“A is for Avocado. Bet you thought I’d say apple! Both are fruit because they grow on trees.”
So starts this unusual alphabet book, which includes a wonderful collection of fruit from all around the world—common ones such as orange, raspberry, and lemon as well as fruit with which readers might be less familiar, such as dragon fruit, yumberry and “XIGUA, which is pronounced ‘she gwah’ and is a Chinese and African name for watermelon.” Each letter of the alphabet gets one page, with the letter and the name of the fruit in uppercase, an illustration of the fruit in vivid colors, and some tasty facts and/or commentary about it. Each sentence is written in an unnecessary mixture of typefaces, which may make it difficult for children to distinguish individual letters. “Q IS FOR QUINCE WHICH is too hard and sour to eat RAW. BUT if you cook IT, IT turns PINK and MAKES a good sauce, jelly OR JAM.” Bold colors, textures, and smiling faces make the fruit look spirited and playful but not particularly tempting, and they may not represent the actual fruit particularly well. Companion book Mrs. Peanuckle’s Vegetable Alphabet is very similar in look and feel, with such unusual vegetables as dandelion, fiddleheads, and watercress.
There is so much interesting information in these books readers may find the problems easy to live with. Have fun with your fruits—and vegetables! (Board book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-62336-872-2
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Rodale Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2018
Categories: CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS
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From Ant to Zorapteran, each page presents a variety of insects, both commonplace and obscure.
Narrator Mrs. Peanuckle, who enjoys sharing her likes and dislikes and writing about herself in the third person, has penned one to two sentences of quirky description and interesting facts for each insect representing a different letter of the alphabet: “L is for Ladybug / The loveliest of insects. They help Mrs. Peanuckle by eating the bugs on her roses!” The text often takes up most of the page and employs a different typeface per word, thus making the pages difficult to scan—often the featured letter of the alphabet merges with the name of the insect (“Inchworm” looks as though it has two I’s, for example). Ford’s lively insects skitter around the words in luminescent color; as with any effective insect book, there’s just enough detail to provoke interest without an ick-response. The companion book, Mrs. Peanuckle’s Flower Alphabet, presents blooms from Aster to Zinnia, with the same formula but with a more winsome approach to the art; here many of the flowers sport smiling faces in the same bold color palette.
Youngsters will enjoy the playful art if they aren’t overwhelmed by the busy design. (Board book. 2-5)Pub Date: Feb. 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-62336-939-2
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Rodale Kids
Review Posted Online: March 18, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS
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Colorful, fun, and informative guide for pint-sized dinosaur enthusiasts.
Kid-friendly and more informative than most dino books for tots, this lift-the-flap dinosaur book is a great next step for any kid with an interest in the subject. Each double-page panorama—occasionally folding out to three or even four pages wide—is organized around types of dinosaurs or habitats. While most featured dinosaurs are land dwellers, prehistoric reptiles of the sea and sky appear as well. Dinosaurs are rendered in bright colors on a white background in a childlike style that makes even Tyrannosaurus rex not too terrifying. Make no mistake, though; the king of the dinosaurs is clearly labeled “CARNIVORE.” Folding T. rex’s head back reveals a black-and-white handsaw, to which the text likens its enormous, sharp teeth. Another marginal illustration, captioned, “Watch out! T. rex is looking for its lunch,” shows a Triceratops specimen on a plate. Yet another reads, “Crushed dinosaur bones have been found in T. rex poop!” Several racially diverse kids appear in each scene, like toddler scientists variously observing, inspecting, and riding on the dinosaurs depicted. In addition to teaching the difference between herbivores and carnivores, the book also conveys a sense of the scale of these prehistoric beasts: Diplodocus is two school buses long, a Triceratops adult is the size of an elephant, and a Velociraptor is the size of a turkey, for example.
Sure to appeal to budding paleontologists everywhere. (Board book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0809-2
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Templar/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
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