Circle Dogs

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful in its simplicity
Review: I saw that an earlier reviewer criticized the illustrations in this book as "overly simplistic" and lacking in cleverness. I had to write in myself, because I believe Circle Dogs is one of the most perfectly illustrated children's books in years. The pictures are simple, to be sure, but absolutely brilliant! It takes tremendous artistic sophistication to conjure up a whole world with a few simple shapes and colors. Yaccarino's illustrations draw you into a child's-eye miracle world of shapes and sounds, yaps and slurps and whirlwind motion. And toddlers are utterly entranced. I'm buying another copy to give as a gift right now!

Rating:
Summary: Daughter likes it
Review: My girl just turned 4 and is very artistic/graphic, and she just thinks this book is terrific (even though it says babies to preschool). I agree with the other reviewer, the plot is rather, um... lacking or bizarre (ie. it's never going to be one of my favorites). But she likes the pictures and the conceptualization of it, so I think that's the point. Now she goes around town and see's large O's and says "circle dogs!"

Rating:
Summary: Lame indeed
Review: To be fair, my son liked this book reasonably well at age 3 or so. But his mom, dad, and grandmother HATED it every time that was the book he chose for us to read to him. Once in a while, there is a pleasantly poetic sound to the text, but overall, both the text and the "drawings" (which I could do on my computer)are aggressively simplistic, with no hint of cleverness or nuancing. Good children's books entertain not only children, but the adults who read to them. In a world with books by Maurice Sendak, Margaret Wise Brown, Roald Dahl, Shel Silverstein, Dr. Seuss, and more (including, when he's feeling a little more subtle, Kevin Henkes), it is unclear why anyone would pick this book. Instead, choose something BOTH you and your child enjoy - it will be a lot easier to instill a love of books if you don't have to hide your disdain while you're reading to your child.