In Tinyville Town, everyone’s got a job to do!
Bakers bake. Bus drivers drive. Garbage collectors collect the garbage. But one day the garbage goes uncollected, the bakery doesn’t open on time, and the bus is late. Mayor Murphy (a black man whose job it is to solve problems) must find out what’s wrong. The problem is no one can get into Tinyville Town because there’s a traffic jam on the bridge that crosses the river. Tinyville Town needs a bigger bridge! With the help of the engineer and the city planner, Mayor Murphy plans a beautiful new bridge. Excavators dig, crane operators move huge blocks, and iron workers install arches. When the bridge is done, the whole town parades across; Hooray! Author and illustrator Biggs offers this companion to his career-centered Tinyville Town board-book series. The diverse (by the shades of their skin) people of Tinyville Town fill jobs with a healthy disregard for strict adherence to gender roles in this big, bright, and friendly construction tale. Simple text takes readers from the discovery of an issue to the creation of the solution with the help of Biggs’ signature ink-and-pencil illustrations colored in Photoshop.
A crowd pleaser just about everywhere, no matter the size of the city, village, or town. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2133-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Abrams Appleseed
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
Categories: CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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A nursery school approach to a general concept. "A tree is nice"- Why? Because..."We can climb the tree...play pirate ship...pick the apples...build playhouses out of the leaves. A tree is nice to hang a swing in...Birds build nests in trees... Sticks come off trees...People have picnics there too"...etc. etc. One follows the give and take of a shared succession of reactions to what a tree- or trees- can mean. There is a kind of poetic simplicity that is innate in small children. Marc Simont has made the pictures, half in full color, and they too have a childlike directness (with an underlying sophistication that adults will recognize). Not a book for everyone -but those who like it will like it immensely. The format (6 x 11) makes it a difficult book for shelving, so put it in the "clean hands" section of flat books. Here's your first book for Arbor Day use- a good spring and summer item.
Pub Date: June 15, 1956
ISBN: 978-0-06-443147-7
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Harper
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1956
Categories: CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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Echoing the meter of “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” Ward uses catchy original rhymes to describe the variety of nests birds create.
Each sweet stanza is complemented by a factual, engaging description of the nesting habits of each bird. Some of the notes are intriguing, such as the fact that the hummingbird uses flexible spider web to construct its cup-shaped nest so the nest will stretch as the chicks grow. An especially endearing nesting behavior is that of the emperor penguin, who, with unbelievable patience, incubates the egg between his tummy and his feet for up to 60 days. The author clearly feels a mission to impart her extensive knowledge of birds and bird behavior to the very young, and she’s found an appealing and attractive way to accomplish this. The simple rhymes on the left page of each spread, written from the young bird’s perspective, will appeal to younger children, and the notes on the right-hand page of each spread provide more complex factual information that will help parents answer further questions and satisfy the curiosity of older children. Jenkins’ accomplished collage illustrations of common bird species—woodpecker, hummingbird, cowbird, emperor penguin, eagle, owl, wren—as well as exotics, such as flamingoes and hornbills, are characteristically naturalistic and accurate in detail.
A good bet for the youngest bird-watchers. (author’s note, further resources) (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 18, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4424-2116-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 4, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2014
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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