Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Read, Read, Read, said the Baby: All Aboard! National Parks by Kevin and Haily Meyers

This is part of a new series I haven't previously looked at - All Aboard! Each previous title takes the reader to a different state or large city. This one is a bit of a departure as it takes readers through various national parks.

Each spread is labeled with a different activity in a different park. One spread shows the train passing by a geyser, with a row of observers and a few bison in the background. This is labeled as Yellowstone. Against a vivid pink and yellow sky, a mountain goat stands on a ridge and an orca leaps in the ocean of Olympic. Each spread has one animal identified with a label, the name of the park, and the train somewhere in the illustration.

There is enough detail in the illustrations to catch the interest of older children and larger items for younger listeners to focus on. There are people pictured in a few spreads and a few have darker skin but most are white. The illustrations are a little rough around the edges; they sometimes look as though they are collages that weren't put together exactly right.

Verdict: Although this isn't perfect, it's a delightfully unique title and manages to incorporate older concepts (wildlife, national parks, geography) in a manner that is suitable for its audience of young listeners.

ISBN: 9781423642367; Published 2016 by Gibbs Smith; Review copy provided by the publisher; Donated to the library

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