Counting on Community

August 3, 2015
Nagara builds on the success of A Is for Activist with a counting book that celebrates active communities, devoting pages to everything from urban farming and chalk drawing to potlucks and protests (“Eight picket signs/ showing that we care”). Nagara’s vibrant digital collages hum with energy as a multicultural crew of children and adults work, play, and collaborate. Brushed, woodgrain-style textures lend an organic feel to the images, while radiating lines in the backgrounds emphasize the idea that close-knit communities like this one have real power. Ages 3–7.

July 1, 2015

Toddler-PreS-In this powerful concept book follow-up to A Is for Activist (Triangle Pr., 2013), Nagara tackles counting. Typical urban neighborhood pastimes are depicted with verve and vibrant colors, including working in community gardens and drawing with sidewalk chalk. Young readers will have fun trying to locate an ever-present duck on each spread. Racial and ethnic diversity is celebrated on every page, and the lyrical text will inspire budding and longtime activists alike.

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

A difficult concept is simply and strikingly illustrated for the very youngest members of any community, with a counting exercise to boot. From the opening invitation, "Living in community, / it's a lot of FUN! / Lets count the ways. / Lets start with ONE," Nagaro shows an urban community that is multicultural, supportive, and happy-exactly like the neighborhoods that many families choose to live and raise their children in. Text on every other page rhymes unobtrusively. Unlike the vocabulary found in A Is for Activist (2013), this book's is entirely age-appropriate (though some parents might not agree that picketing is a way to show "that we care"). In A Is for Activist, a cat was hidden on each page; this time, finding the duck is the game. Counting is almost peripheral to the message. On the page with "Seven bikes and scooters and helmets to share," identifying toys in an artistic heap is confusing. There is only one helmet for five toys, unless you count the second helmet worn by the girl riding a scooter-but then there are eight items, not seven. Seven helmets and seven toys would have been clearer. That quibble aside, Nagara's graphic design skills are evident, with deep colors, interesting angles, and strong lines, in a mix of digital collage and ink. Ideal for any community where children count. (Board book. 2-5) COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

January 1, 2016
A difficult concept is simply and strikingly illustrated for the very youngest members of any community, with a counting exercise to boot. From the opening invitation, "Living in community, / it's a lot of FUN! / Lets count the ways. / Lets start with ONE," Nagaro shows an urban community that is multicultural, supportive, and happy--exactly like the neighborhoods that many families choose to live and raise their children in. Text on every other page rhymes unobtrusively. Unlike the vocabulary found in A Is for Activist (2013), this book's is entirely age-appropriate (though some parents might not agree that picketing is a way to show "that we care"). In A Is for Activist, a cat was hidden on each page; this time, finding the duck is the game. Counting is almost peripheral to the message. On the page with "Seven bikes and scooters and helmets to share," identifying toys in an artistic heap is confusing. There is only one helmet for five toys, unless you count the second helmet worn by the girl riding a scooter--but then there are eight items, not seven. Seven helmets and seven toys would have been clearer. That quibble aside, Nagara's graphic design skills are evident, with deep colors, interesting angles, and strong lines, in a mix of digital collage and ink. Ideal for any community where children count. (Board book. 2-5)

COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.