Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it. The punch line fails from a design standpoint, as the sudden, single-bubble chorus of “DADA” appears to be emanating from background features rather than the baby animals’ mouths (only some of which, on close inspection, appear to be open). All the text prior to this point has been either iterations of “Dada” or animal sounds in dialogue bubbles here, narrative text states, “Now everybody get in line, let’s say it together one more time….” Upon the turn of the page, the animal dads gaze round-eyed as their young across the gutter all cry, “DADA!” (except the duckling, who says, “quack”). Ordóñez's illustrations have a bland, digital look, compositions hardly varying with the characters, although the pastel-colored backgrounds change. A final two-spread sequence finds all of the animals arrayed across the pages, dads on the verso and children on the recto. A duck, a bee, a dog, a rabbit, a cat, a mouse, a donkey, a pig, a frog, a rooster, and a horse all fail similarly, spread by spread. A sad-looking ram insists, “DADA!” his lamb baas back. Although the closing pages beg the implied child reader to “please please please please / please / choose a book with pictures” for subsequent reading, it’s likely that this request will be ignored.Ī riotously fresh take on breaking the fourth wall.Ī succession of animal dads do their best to teach their young to say “Dada” in this picture-book vehicle for Fallon.Ī grumpy bull says, “DADA!” his calf moos back. Nonsense words, silly words to be sung and even a smattering of potty talk for good measure all coalesce in riotous read-aloud fare. Employing direct address, it pleads with the implied child listener to allow him or her to stop reading. Furthermore, the text implies (or rather, demands) a shared reading transaction, in which an adult is compelled to read the text aloud, no matter how “COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS” it is.
What this book does have is text, and it’s presented through artful typography that visually conveys its changing tone to guide oral readings. has brown hair and blue eyes,” in order to keep with the book’s central conceit. The jacket flap even eschews a glossy photo, instead saying “B.J. It doesn’t even seem fair to call it such, since it has nothing to do with his Emmy Award–winning writing for The Office or the fame his broader career has afforded him. Television writer, actor and comedian Novak delivers a rare find, indeed: a very good celebrity picture book. This book may not have pictures, but it’s sure to inspire lots of conversations-and laughs.
0 kommentar(er)
