review: Trucks Go Pop!

Trucks Go Pop! written and illustrated by Bob Staake. Little, Brown, 2008 (978-0-316-00510-4) $17.99

In the town of Truckopolis, happy trucks are going about their days--delivering milk, picking up recycling... shooting clowns out of cannons. Vibrantly colored pictures and some innovative paper engineering makes this a particularly busy pop-up book; there's plenty of action on every page, often with actual movement, as well as a lot to look at. (Some of it, like a poster advertising "telepathic flesh-boring," quite bizarre.) The 3D of the pop-ups is complemented surprisingly well by a whimsical, flat drawing style that's heavy on odd, bold shapes and contrasting colors. This is mostly a book for looking at: "little truck/big truck/silly truck/dig truck" is half the text right there. Includes a colorful poster of "Truckopolis." (3 & up)

review: Squiggles by Taro Gomi

Squiggles written and illustrated by Taro Gomi. Chronicle, 2007 (0-8118-6151-1) $18.95

Similar in theme to the Anti-Coloring Books, which encourage readers to create as well as color, Squiggles is a much classier production, a huge, over-sized book with thick, bright pages that cry out for a variety of media, decorated with childlike, whimsical sketches by Gomi. Different sections include "Let's paint what's in the sea," "What's for dinner?" and "Let's paint faces." The amount of illustration provided varies from scene to scene, with some pages largely background and others almost complete in themselves. Each section has many examples, allowing artists to try different approaches--or try again if they mess up the first time.

At $18.95, this is not a gift for a casual colorer, and kids who are really into staying within the lines may find the slapdash style frustrating. But it's a great idea for kids who love art but have trouble thinking of where to begin, or who tend to get stuck on one subject. (2-6)

Other reviews: Jen Robinson's Book Page.