Basher--Go! Go! Bobo Shapes

April 11, 2011
Basher brings his distinctive line of informational books to an even younger audience with the introduction of BoBo, a marshmallow-headed little guy with an urge to bounce (a bandage on his forehead suggests a propensity for accidents). In this outing, glossy shapes appear at left, while BoBo bounces past them and into scenes in which they are featured (he splashes out of a pool of water containing boats with triangular sails, careens between rectangular flat-screen TVs, and launches himself into a clump of heart-shaped balloons). It's a vibrant and playful primer on the topic. Available simultaneously: Colors. Up to age 4.

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

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