Picture Book Review: The Big Book of Outdoors by Tim Hopgood (3/29/2022)

Quick Booktalk 

This brightly-colored volume is a collection of facts, poems, and illustrations celebrating the great outdoors.

About the Illustrations

Tim Hopgood uses his signature style to bring various aspects of nature to life. Some of his artwork is more abstract and impressionistic; other pages feature more technically correct representations of plant and animal life. Every page is bursting with color and full of interesting textual and visual details to pore over. 

Story Time Possibilities

This isn't really a book to be read in one sitting, but certainly a page or two could be used in a story time or classroom to introduce a concept. The pictures certainly lend themselves well to being shown to an audience.

Readers Advisory

This book is divided into four seasonal sections, which makes it a handy book to use in a homeschool or brick-and-mortar school setting. Some of the items included are not necessarily unique to the season in which they are placed, but it is helpful to have seemingly disparate items organized in some way. In terms of content this book reminds me a lot of Outside Your Window: A First Book of Nature by Nicola Davies. I think it is most appealing to the 4-to-7-year-old age group, though my art-loving 8-year-old also seems interested.

Disclosure

I received a finished review copy of The Big Book of Outdoors from Candlewick Studio in exchange for an honest review.

Picture Book Review: I'll Go and Come Back by Rajani LaRocca, illustrated by Sara Palacios (3/29/2022)

Quick Booktalk 

Jyoti, who lives in America, travels to visit her grandmother in India. When the visit ends, it's hard to say goodbye, so her grandmother teaches her the words that Tamil-speaking people use instead of goodbye, which translate as "I'll go and come back." 

About the Illustrations 

The pictures mostly depict Jyoti and her grandmother against a white background. Only a couple of scenes - in the airport, and on the street in India - take up a full spread. It would have been nice to see more of the differences between Jyoti's home and her grandmother's turn up in the pictures. There is a warmth and cheerfulness to each of the figures in the pictures that really highlight the loving relationship between grandmother and granddaughter. Their connection to each other is something all readers can relate to, and it helps give this story set within a specific culture universal appeal as well. 

Story Time Possibilities

The obvious story time theme for this book would be grandparents, but it would also work for things like travel, "around the world," India, Mother's Day, and/or a hello and goodbye theme. Some of the pictures are a bit tiny and might be hard to see, but for most average-sized story time audiences they should be fine.

Readers Advisory

Sara Palacios also illustrated My Day with the Panye by Tami Charles and A Song of Frutas by Margarita Engle, and it would be fun to read these titles together and discuss the different cultures depicted. I think it would also pair nicely with I Really Want to See You Grandma by Taro Gomi. 

Disclosure

I received a finished review copy of I'll Go and Come Back from Candlewick Press in exchange for an honest review. 

Picture Book Review: Slug in Love by Rachel Bright, illustrated by Nadia Shireen (12/14/2021)

Quick Booktalk

Doug the slug has a hard time finding someone to hug him. 

About the Illustrations 

The illustrations really carry this book. All the humor, color, and personality this book has to offer are found in the pictures and really nowhere else. Brightly colored blobs and geometric shapes against a white background form the bodies of Doug and the other characters he meets, as well as flowers, grass, and other bits of nature that serve as the setting. 

Story Time Possiblities

The clunky rhyming in this book will keep it out of my story times. There is so much rhyme for rhyme's sake - Doug, hug, slug, snug,  bug - and yet the author also rhymes all of these words with "love." It feels sloppy and uncomfortable to read aloud. 

Readers Advisory

Overall, this book just gave me a weird vibe. Kids don't generally relate to stories about falling in love, or about the loneliness of not being able to find someone to love, so the subject matter feels like a weird choice. The ending also feels very tacked on and unsatisfying. 

Disclosure 

I received a finished review copy of Slug in Love from Paula Wiseman Books in exchange for an honest review.

Picture Book Review: I'm a Neutrino: Tiny Particles in a Big Universe by Dr. Eve M. Vavagiaki, illustrated by Ilze Lemesis (3/22/2022)

Quick Booktalk 

In first-person rhyming text a neutrino introduces itself and its role in the universe.

About the Illustrations

The illustrations are really eye-catching, and they do a nice job of highlighting the mysterious nature of neutrinos as well as the work of the scientists who study them. 

Story Time Possibilities

The rhyme in this book is really rough to read aloud. Rhyme is too cutesy for an informational book to beign with; to have the rhyme feel so awkward is an even bigger disappointment. I'm not sure I'd read a book about neutrinos at story time in any case, but I definitely would not read this one. 

Readers Advisory

If you really need a book about the neutrino, the information in this one does seem sound despite the poorly executed attempt at poetry. After reading Ada and the Galaxies by Alan Lightman, published by MIT Kids Press in 2021, I had extremely high hopes for this book. Since these are the only two books out so far from this imprint, I can only hope that future titles will be more like the first book and less like this second one. 

Disclosure

I received a finished review copy of I'm a Neutrino from MIT Kids Press/Candlewick in exchange for an honest review.