Go! Go! Bobo Colors

Starred review from July 1, 2011

With a bold call to action—"Go! Go! BoBo"—a busy toddler creates with abandon, clutching his paintbrush with dramatic fervor.

His soft shape has an uncanny resemblance to the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, limbs morphing into blobs; the only constants are his single curl, prominently placed Band-Aid and tiny x eyes. Thematic unity is achieved through a repetitive format that proceeds hue by hue; vivid paint splatters against the plain background on the left-hand page, while a gray bouncing line chronicles his energetic journey on the facing page. He creates detailed images with a glossy sheen, from red fire trucks and roses to a golden bunch of bananas, ripe for the picking. BoBo seamlessly shifts positions through the color scheme; facial expressions correlate with each shade. (BoBo lands feet first in the blue paint can, and a barely noticeable "oh" formed on his lips seals the deal.) The text consists of nothing but color labels until BoBo returns to his room, a rainbow above his bed, and concludes, "Go! Go! Colors!" The companion Shapes succeeds with similar stocky flair. 

This near-wordless romp encourages tots to pick up some paints of their own. (Board book. 1-3)

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

August 1, 2011

PreS-BoBo is a small, cartoonlike character with a big, round head and no feet or hands; his chalk-white body is outlined in black. Band-Aid on forehead, energetic BoBo bounces on the bed at the beginning and end of both books. Each title identifies six concepts with one word in the upper-left-hand corner of the verso and an illustration under it. Lines conveying action trail BoBo plunging into a cluster of objects on the recto. For example, in Colors, the word "Pink" is printed over a large pink splatter opposite pink piglets and cupcakes with pink icing. In Shapes, a large heart is teamed with a group of colorful heart-shaped balloons and strawberries. These sturdy board books with rounded corners are solid choices.-Laura Butler, Mount Laurel Library, NJ

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2011
Preschool A great title to encourage toddlers' interactive play, this board book introduces six basic colors, one on each double-page spread. A big splash of paint appears on each left-hand page (Red!), while on the opposite page, Bobo, a winsome childlike creature, paints objects in the featured color. On the red spread, for example, fire engines and roses fill the page, while the following yellow spread is a riot of ducklings and bananas. The final page features a rainbow of images in all six hues. Kids will want to move from the book to the real world and name the colors all around them.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)