Book Reviews
Jack by Tomie dePaola; illus. by the authorPreschool Paulsen/Penguin 32 pp.9/14 978-0-399-16154-4 $17.99 gFarm boy Jack wants to make new friends and live in the city, which is exactly what he does in this minimally plotted book. On his way to ask the king for a house, Jack picks up...
Before we start chatting about specific 2014 picture books, take a moment to read the Caldecott criteria. They're posted over there on the right, but I will help you find the important parts. Here they are, in part:In identifying a “distinguished American picture book for children,” defined as illustration, committee...
Pom and Pimby Lena Landström; illus. by
Olof Landström; trans. from
the Swedish by Julia MarshallPreschool Gecko 32 pp.3/14 978-1-877579-66-0 $16.95Pom is a small child with sparse orange curls, clad in a long purple sweater; Pim is Pom’s inanimate sidekick of indeterminate species: a dirty pink, with two eyes and...
Hi, Koo! A Year of Seasonsby Jon J Muth; illus. by the authorPreschool, Primary Scholastic 32 pp.3/14 978-0-545-16668-3 $17.99Twenty-six haiku are presented by young panda Koo, whom fans of Muth’s Zen Ties will recognize as the haiku-spouting nephew of Stillwater, the Zen Buddhist panda from Zen Shorts and Zen Ghosts....
Emily’s Blue Periodby Cathleen Daly; illus. by Lisa BrownPrimary Porter/Roaring Brook 56 pp.6/14 978-1-59643-469-1 $17.99Young Emily is an artist — a fact thoroughly established, visually, from title page on. She draws and she paints; she pores over art books. In school, she is learning about Pablo Picasso, and his work...
Jake at Gymnasticsby Rachel Isadora; illus. by the authorPreschool Paulsen/Penguin 32 pp.6/14 978-0-399-16048-6 $14.99 gAs she did with Bea at Ballet (rev. 7/12), Isadora shows a group of roly-poly toddlers enjoying a beginning class, this time in gymnastics, with an Asian American boy as the focus. Teachers Dave and Toshi...
Rules of Summerby Shaun Tan; illus. by the authorPrimary Levine/Scholastic 56 pp.5/14 978-0-545-63912-5 $18.99 g“This is what I learned last summer: Never leave a red sock on the clothesline. Never eat the last olive at a party. Never drop your jar.” The narrator enumerates...
The Tree House that Jack Builtby Bonnie Verburg;
illus. by Mark TeaguePrimary Orchard/Scholastic 32 pp.5/14 978-0-439-85338-5 $17.99 gThis version of the old cumulative rhyme “The House that Jack Built” grabs kids right from the start: the cover shows a small boy waving from one of many balconies in a multilevel...
The Little Bear Bookby Anthony Browne;
illus. by the authorPreschool Candlewick 24 pp.5/14 978-0-7636-7007-8 $15.99Bear sets out on a walk through the forest, pencil in hand. Like Harold’s purple crayon and the girl’s red marker in Becker’s Journey (rev. 9/13), Bear’s writing utensil is a magical one. The lushly illustrated...
355 articles
ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER? LOG IN
We are currently offering this content for free. Sign up now to activate your personal profile, where you can save articles for future viewing.
ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER? LOG IN
Thank you for visiting.
We’ve noticed you are using a private browser. To continue, please log in or create an account.
