Love Is a Ball

August 15, 2022
From baseballs to gum balls, a list of round objects. This rhyming board book showcases balls that appear in childhood games, from the obvious, like a basketball, to those less common in childhood play, such as pinballs, comparing each of them to love ("Love is a baseball, snug in a glove"). Other balls include a balloon, a bubble, and the moon. Overall, the rhyme scheme works well thanks to onomatopoeia like swish and THWACK and a spare amount of text on each page. The illustrations rely on a limited palette dominated by yellow, salmon, blue, and green with black as an accenting color. Most of the characters are children of various skin tones, though they all are drawn with black hair in various textures. Their faces have only thick black lines or curves as eyes, with large, circular pink cheeks. Perhaps the cheeks are meant to emphasize the theme of the book, but because they are so apparent, at first glance (as with the cover) they can appear as pupil-less eyes with dark eyebrows. Overall, this is a different take on childhood play, with objects that will be familiar to older children but less so to a board-book audience. New exposures are positive, of course, even if pool balls and a pinball machine make for an odd fit for toddlers. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Unusual yet engaging. (Board book. 1-3)

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