Wednesday, March 29, 2017

BOARD BOOK - All Aboard! National Parks by Devin & Haily Meyers

Illustrated by Haily Meyers
2016 Gibbs Smith
$9.99 board book
11 pgs.
Goodreads rating:  4.04 - 45 ratings
My rating: 4
Illustrations - Love the colors, errors (see below), but I like them otherwise

My comments:  I don't usually write any kind of review for board books, but I've found a couple today that take exception to that.  I love anything to do with national parks, and that there's a BOARD BOOK for little ones about them is more-than-super.  The colors are great and the illustrations are fun. Although the text is particularly sparse (it is a board book after all), the verbs used are wonderful.... savoring.... marveling at..... surveying.... experiencing.... peering over.....
          There's a map at the end with the locations of the nine parks notated.  Acadia, Great Smoky Mountains, Rocky Mountain, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Zion, Grand Canyon, Olympic, and Yosemite.
          I have two beefs with the illustrations, both of which tend to drive me crazy.  The first - when saguaro cacti are shown where they should not be!  There's not a single saguaro cacti at Grand Canyon National Park.  The closest one can be found in the Sonoran Desert, much to the south.  Secondly, there's a puffin denoting Acadia National Park.  Although I'm sure there are lots of puffins way out on the far outer islands of Maine, you will definitely not see one at Acadia National Park (I lived there for 30 years, so I know that for a fact). It does make me wonder if there are other misrepresentations for other parks in the book.  I know this is probably insignificant for most people, but I do wish it had been researched a little better!

Goodreads:  From the creators of BabyLit®: Every area of the world can be mapped out for adventure, and brilliant babies love the sophistication of traveling by train.
          This new board book series written by the husband and wife team of Haily and Kevin Meyers and illustrated by Haily, celebrates the unique qualities of each city while employing a fun primer element to tell the story. These books will have you and baby seeing the world by train and will turn story time into a globetrotting event. Perfect as a souvenir or as part of a geography collection for brilliant babies, the All Aboard! series will be pulling into your station next!

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