Picture Book Review: Big Stuff: Planes, Rockets, Spacecraft by Joan Holub, illustrated by The Little Friends of Printmaking (10/19/2022)

Quick Booktalk 

Information about a variety of flying vehicles is introduced in an oversized board book format.

About the Illustration

The bold lines of the pictures, combined with the cartoonish faces assigned to the vehicles, are instantly engaging. Each spread includes a labeled diagram of the parts of a vehicle, a step by step description of how it works, and sections for Big History and a Big Fun Fact. Everything is accompanied with kid-friendly pictures. 

Readers Advisory

This would be too lengthy to read to a group, and it's also too long for my two-year-olds to sit through. For toddlers or story time audiences, I might just read aloud the rhyming couplets that introduce each vehicle and then add in additional information from other parts of the pages as the children express interest. For a four- or five-year-old, it would be fine to read all the details.

Content Notes

This is the perfect book for kids (especially little boys) who love things that go and want to hear all the details of how they work in a very child-friendly way. Because it's a board book, it's most appealing to ages 5 and under, but the content could skew even older.

Disclosure

I received a review copy of Big Stuff: Planes, Rockets, Spacecraft from Little Simon in exchange for an honest review. 

Picture Book Review: Mouse Calls by Anne Marie Pace, illustrated by Erin Kraan (10/5/2022)

Quick Booktalk 

With a big storm on the way, Mouse rushes to warn all of her animal friends and get them all to safety.

About the Illustrations 

I love the way the illustrator uses texture in this book. The way she draws the animals' fur, and their clothes, the grass and rocks, the leaves and even the rain makes it feel like the reader could reach out and touch them. The animals' wide expressive eyes, anthropomorphic behaviors and cute outfits contrubute to a gentle, cozy feeling. The blues and browns of the sky and background also help to evoke the damp, cool quality of air during a storm.

Read-Aloud Possiblities

The simple rhyming lines of this story make it a natural choice to read aloud, especially with toddlers. There is a good variety of animals in the text, too, including creatures not often mentioned in children's books, like the skink and the caribou. Occasional wordless spreads of the animals huddled away from the storm also give kids the opportunity to provide their own commentaries and interpretations of what is happening. This book would work nicely for a weather, animals, or mice theme. 

Readers Advisory 

The structure of the story reminds me a little bit of the Bear books by Karma Wilson (Bear Snores On, etc.) I also found myself thinking of The Umbrella by Jan Brett. 

Disclosure 

I received a review copy of Mouse Calls from Beach Lane Books in exchange for an honest review.

Picture Book Review: The Little Bear by Nicola Killen (6/28/2022)

Quick Booktalk 

In this back-to-school story from the same series as The Little Kitten, Ollie follows a bear to his woodland school one night and learns not to be nervous about her own first day. 

About the Illustrations 

The sweet, gentle pictures are mainly done in black, white, and gray, with occasional bits of navy and gold foil. They capture the nighttime atmosphere in a way that feels quiet and peaceful, not spooky. 

Readers Advisory

This could be a fun read-aloud at home for a child who is already anxious about attending school. I'd probably avoid reading it to a child who doesn't have any reservations about the first day because I wouldn't want to introduce a problem where there isn't one. The ideal age range is probably ages 3 to 5, which matches when most kids will begin their first school experiences. 

Content Notes

This is a different take on the back to school story, and it takes a very gentle and supportive approach. It keeps a positive outlook on the idea of starting school and makes it fun by imagining what an animal school might be like. My kids are homeschooled, but they are fascinated by school, so they all enjoyed reading this one. 

Disclosure 

I received a review copy of The Little Bear from Paula Wiseman Books in exchange for an honest review.

Picture Book Review: A Little Ferry Tale by Chad Otis (8/2/2022)

Quick Booktalk

As a little ferry boat carries people back and forth across the water, she is distracted by how much her passengers praise other types of boats and veers off course attempting to imitate them. When there is an emergency, however, she realizes how helpful her own good qualities actually are.

About the Illustrations

The pictures in this book make me think of some of Disney's storyboard images, so it wasn't much of a surprise to learn that the illustrator has worked for Disney. All of the boats have anthropomorphic features, while the humans and animals in the story are more realistic. The illustrations portray a lot of movement of boats and water very effectivly using varying shapes and lines.

Read-Aloud Possibilities

This is a fine book to read aloud, with not many words on the page, lots of bold shapes and lines in the pictures and even some onomatopoeia. It could be fun for a story time about boats, especially since ferries are not widely represented in picture books. It also works for a "be yourself" theme.

Readers Advisory

There are so many books already that follow this same formula, where a small vehicle discovers its big purpose: The Little Engine That Could, Little Excavator, Little Tug, Lily Leads the Way etc. I wish this one had done something a little bit different with the premise to make itself stand out a little more.

Disclosure

I received a review copy of A Little Ferry Tale from Atheneum Books for Young Readers in exchange for an honest review.