Review - The Crayon Man: The True Story of the Invention of Crayola Crayons

The Crayon Man: The True Story of the Invention of Crayola Crayons
by Natascha Biebow
illustrated by Steven Salerno
Date: 2019
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book non-fiction
Pages: 48
Format: e-book
Source: library

Celebrating the inventor of the Crayola crayon! This picture book biography tells the story of Edwin Binney, the inventor of one of the world's most beloved stationary supplies.

purple mountains’ majesty, mauvelous, jungle green, razzmatazz…

What child doesn't love to hold a crayon in their hands? But children didn't always have such magical boxes of crayons. Here’s the true story of an inventor who so loved nature’s vibrant colors that he found a way to bring the outside world to children – in a box for only a nickel!

(synopsis from Goodreads)

The Crayon Man is the story of how Edwin Binney developed Crayola crayons.

The book is a biography, but moreso for the crayons than for the man. Still, it's an interesting story of an iconic childhood staple. Bright illustrations highlight the informative text. There's an author's note at the end that gives a little more information about Binney, as well as a step-by-step explanation of how Crayola crayons are made today.

Those who enjoy picture-book biographies won't want to miss this one.

Quotable moment:

Premise: 4/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 4/5
Illustrations: 4/5
Originality: 4/5

Enjoyment: 4/5

Overall: 4 out of 5

Review - Maybe Something Beautiful: How Art Transformed a Neighborhood

Maybe Something Beautiful: How Art Transformed a Neighborhood
by F. Isabel Campoy & Theresa Howell
illustrated by Rafael López
Date: 2016
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book non-fiction
Pages: 40
Format: e-book
Source: library

What good can a splash of color do in a community of gray? As Mira and her neighbors discover, more than you might ever imagine! Based on the true story of the Urban Art Trail in San Diego, California, Maybe Something Beautiful reveals how art can inspire transformation and how even the smallest artists can accomplish something big. Pick up a paintbrush and join the celebration!

(synopsis from Goodreads)

This is an interesting picture book based on the true story of the Urban Art Trail in San Diego.

While I appreciate the story and the illustrations (they're vibrant and highly appealing), I'm a bit disappointed in the way this book doesn't address the legality of painting public spaces. Readers might be left with the impression that you can just go around painting walls, utility boxes, and benches wherever you like (when, in many places, you'd need permits... lest you be charged with vandalism). The result may be beautiful, but is it legal?

That said, if parents are willing to sit down and explain these things (and read the authors' note with their kids), this could be a good introduction to urban art. The illustrations are colourful and highlight the contrast between a world with art versus one without.

Premise: 3/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 4/5
Illustrations: 4/5
Originality: 3/5

Enjoyment: 3/5

Overall: 3.33 out of 5

Review - Snow Falls

Snow Falls
by Kate Gardner
illustrated by Brandon James Scott
Date: 2020
Publisher: Tundra Books (NY)
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 32
Format: e-book
Source: library

An introduction to the magic, beauty and fun of snow for very young readers, perfect for fans of Ezra Jack Keats' classic The Snowy Day.

Snow softens, snow tricks, snow tracks, snow glows and snow snows and snows and snows, transforming a small village into a winter wonderland. A girl and her dog set out and make the most of every snow-filled moment: sledding, building snowmen and snowforts, making snowangels (and snowdogs), and drinking cocoa by a cozy fire as the snow continues to fall. This luminous and lively picture book celebrates the beauty, magic and excitement of snow with simple, easy-to-read text, comprised almost solely of verbs and action words, and gorgeous art that highlights the amazing colors of a snowy day. As inviting as the first snowfall, but so much warmer, Snow Falls encourages little people and big people to go outside and enjoy the snow . . . before it goes!

(synopsis from Goodreads)

Similar to A. K. Riley's Snow Song, Snow Falls is a picture book that's driven largely by its illustrations. The text is minimal, with most of the spreads only having two words.

While I found Snow Song highly repetitive and annoying, Snow Falls is much easier to take, in part because there's so little text that you can sort of ignore it. (In fact, I think this one could even work as a wordless picture book.) The pictures are going to be the real draw here. They're colourful, charming, and infused with various shades of light that one tends to see only in the winter months. A little girl and her dog form a motif that's carried throughout the whole season. (There are also a couple of other things that repeat on every page. Readers will have fun spotting them!)

The story is very basic, but I'd recommend this one for the illustrations alone.

Quotable moment:

Premise: 3/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 3/5
Illustrations: 5/5
Originality: 3/5

Enjoyment: 4/5

Overall: 3.67 out of 5

Review - The Three Brothers

The Three Brothers
by Marie-Louise Gay
Date: 2020
Publisher: Groundwood Books
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 40
Format: e-book
Source: library

Finn and his younger brothers, Leo and Ooley, love reading stories about animals living in forests, on mountains or in the arctic.

“When I grow up,” says Finn, “I want to be an explorer and travel around the world. I want to see wild animals and strange birds.”

“Why wait?” asks Leo.

And so, the next morning, they wake up early and set out on a snowy expedition to search for wild animals. In their grandfather’s time, the forest was full of animals — but today the forest is quiet. Where have the animals gone?

This gentle adventure story about the effects of climate change ends on a hopeful note.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

The illustrations in this book are cute, but the story itself leaves something to be desired.

Three brothers read stories about the wilderness. They decide to go on an expedition to see some animals near their home. But they don't see any, and conclude it's because of climate change. So they build some snow versions of animals and then go home.

The environmental message seems really shoehorned into the story. It doesn't even make much sense in this context. The boys' grandfather has told them that there are no longer animals in the woods because of climate change. They lament the changes in the weather and talk about how people are trying to fix the problem. (This alone could cause some worry in anxious children, given how vague the statements are.) But Grandpa seems to be full of it. The woods are full of birds, so it's not a desolate wasteland. And the story even ends with a fox approaching his snowy doppelganger after the boys have left... so obviously the animals were simply hiding from the boys. Making them believe that they're on the verge of some ecological apocalypse (when they're not) seems like a pretty crappy thing to do. I don't know if I'd let Grandpa around the kids anymore...

Like I said at the beginning of the review, the pictures are lovely. I don't have any complaints there. But the story is weak (where are the boys' parents, for one thing, and why are they allowed to go traipsing through five-foot-high snow with nothing but pie plates strapped to their feet?) and the environmental message's inclusion doesn't feel very organic.

Overall, I don't think I'd recommend this one. The message is potentially confusing and worrying (and, really, doesn't even need to be there).

Premise: 1/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 3/5
Illustrations: 4/5
Originality: 2/5

Enjoyment: 2/5

Overall: 2.33 out of 5

Review - Climate Change for Babies

Climate Change for Babies
by Chris Ferrie & Katherina Petrou
illustrated by Chris Ferrie
Date: 2020
Publisher: Sourcebooks Explore
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book non-fiction
Pages: 24
Format: e-book
Source: library

A colorfully simple explanation of the science behind climate change, from the #1 science author for kids

Climate Change for Babies is an engaging, basic introduction for youngsters (and grownups!) to the complex questions of what climate change is and what we can do about it. Full of scientific information and written by experts, this timely installment of the Baby University board book series is perfect for enlightening the next generation of geniuses. After all, it's never too early to become a scientist!

(synopsis from Goodreads)

Talk about a marketing fail. A non-fiction title teaching babies about climate change is laughable enough. Babies don't care about climate change. Babies shouldn't care about climate change. (Nobody's allowed to just be a kid anymore!) The title, however, might end up pushing this book into the dreaded bargain bin, where unwanted books go to die. The only audience I can see for this is adults who want to engage in some virtue-signalling. Babies won't get anything out of it. Older children will avoid it like the plague because it's "for babies"; it says so right on the cover. (And, speaking of the cover, I thought the planet was wearing a medical mask for a moment. It's supposed to be a pacifier, but that's not very clear... especially since it's blue. Since the Earth is often regarded as female, a pink pacifier might have made more sense and wouldn't have been as easily confused with a mask.)

As for the actual content, it'll either be viewed as a simple introduction to climate-change theory or a piece of board-book propaganda. It's super simple, basically blaming cow farts and cars for climate change, and then telling kids they can help by riding the bus and planting trees. (Funny how livestock is always mentioned as part of the problem but never part of the solution.)

Anyway, I just can't get past the obvious virtue-signalling this book is doing. Textbooks for babies? Give me a break.

Premise: 1/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 3/5
Illustrations: 2/5
Originality: 2/5

Enjoyment: 0/5

Overall: 1.33 out of 5

Review - The Mitten

The Mitten
by Jan Brett
Date: 1989
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 32
Format: e-book
Source: library

Millions of readers have fallen in love with Jan Brett’s The Mitten, and over 2.5 million copies have been sold since publication in 1989. This striking oversized anniversary edition with a silver foil jacket and a fresh image of the woodland animals will attract fans old and new, and adult collectors of Jan Brett’s books. Set in a snowy forest, the fun begins when, one by one, animals crawl into Nicki’s lost white mitten to get warm until the bear sneezes, sending the animals flying up and out of the mitten. On each turn of the page, Jan hints at what animal is coming next in her signature borders, inspired by Ukrainian folk art.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

I can't recall ever reading The Mitten before. I assumed it was a Christmas story, but it's not; it's simply a winter story, set in snowy Ukraine.

A boy named Nicki wants a pair of snow-white mittens. His grandmother is skeptical, thinking he'll lose them in the snow where he won't be able to find them. But he insists, and is gifted with a pair of white mittens. Of course, he promptly loses one, and it becomes a source of comfort for a number of woodland animals, each of them squeezing into the magical mitten until an unexpected sneeze propels the story to its conclusion.

Jan Brett's artwork is always interesting, and it's lovely here, full of incredible detail. I enjoyed looking at the little side panels, which would give a hint about which animal was going to show up next to claim their space inside the mitten.

Overall, I enjoyed this one. It's easy to see why it's a classic. I read the 20th-anniversary edition, but the book is over 30 years old now. And it'll probably be enjoyed by readers for many more years to come.

Quotable moment:

Premise: 4/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 4/5
Illustrations: 4/5
Originality: 4/5

Enjoyment: 4/5

Overall: 4 out of 5

Review - Gurple and Preen: A Broken Crayon Cosmic Adventure

Gurple and Preen: A Broken Crayon Cosmic Adventure
by Linda Sue Park
illustrated by Debbie Ridpath Ohi
Date: 2020
Publisher: Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 48
Format: e-book
Source: library

This wildly imaginative, crayon-inspired picture book shows that with a bit of teamwork and a universe of creativity, anything is possible!

Buzz!
Zap!
CRASH!

Gurple and Preen are in a big mess!

When they crash-land onto an unfamiliar planet with nothing but boxes of crayons, they must work together to get the mission back on course.

From Newbery Award–winning author Linda Sue Park and illustrator Debbie Ridpath Ohi comes a story about all the best things that can come out of a box of crayons.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

I'm afraid this one has me a bit confused. It's like we're supposed to be in the author's head. I get that these robots snap apart crayons to release objects (weird, but... okay). The confusing part is when Gurple keeps fretting about "the pods", like we're supposed to know the significance of them. (They look like a box of crayons, so I wasn't sure why they were so special.) It's almost as if this is a sequel to another book where all of the weirdness was explained. As far as I can tell, though, it isn't.

The premise is creative and the overall message is good, but since I spent so much time mentally saying "WTF?!" I had a hard time enjoying the story. Maybe this one grows on you when you read it a few times. I'm not interested enough to find out.

Premise: 2/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 2/5
Illustrations: 3/5
Originality: 3/5

Enjoyment: 2/5

Overall: 2.33 out of 5