In Our Tree
Written by Lindsey Craig
Illustrated by Rita Vigovszky
Owlbop Publishing   8/01/2016
978-0-99672112-3-3
32 pages    Ages 1—5

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“I SEE SOMETHING IN THE TREE.
IT IS BLUE. WHAT COULD IT BE?

“Children will have fun learning colors and delight at playing peek-a-boo too, as they discover the beautiful jungle animals hiding in the tree.” [back cover]

Review
Children can learn colors while listening to In Our Tree.

The design of In Our Tree uses die-cut circles to spot the color seen in the tree. On the next spread, the young girl finds the animal matching the previous color. Primary colors blue and red (no yellow), secondary colors green and orange (no purple)), and brown are the available colors. As designed, the addition of one more color was possible. Doing so—and eliminating brown—would have allowed the author to teach young children both primary and secondary colors.
Rhyming would become more difficult, as the colors purple and yellow each have one additional syllable than the colors used. This would have ruined the rhyme scheme, but is a good example of the rhyme telling the author to use prose, rather than mess up the story.

Toddlers will likely be familiar with the animals in the story, including butterflies, birds, frogs, monkeys, and kittens. I love the red macaws, which are simply referred to as “birds.”, Again, the rhyme is saying, “For the best book, use prose.”

“I see something in my tree
It is red. What could it be?
(Turn the sturdy, glossy, mess-proof page.)
Hello, red birds!
Come swing with me!

The spreads have a green background with brightly colored creatures and a white little girl. Kids will love the illustrations and the humorous additions the illustrator Vigovszky added. Each die-cut circle initially shows the color of the creature, but not enough to know what creature is on the next spread. Once revealed, the animals remain in the spreads, “in my tree.” Unfortunately, the spread given for this review is blank.
In Our Tree, the text rhymes, as it asks about each color seen in the die-cut circle, “What could it be?” The next spread reveals the animal and the young girl greeting them, then asking them to do something with her. “I see something in my tree. / It is blue. What could it be? / Hello, blue butterflies! / Play with me!”

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Try! Try! Try!
Written by Lindsey Craig
Illustrated by Ying Hui Tan
Owlbop Publishing   8/01/2016
978-0-9967212-4-0
32 pages    Ages 1—5

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“You can roar, you can hop,
even slippity-slide!
All you have to do is try! Try! Try!

“Oh, it’s fun to learn new things!
In Lindsey Craig’s new get-up-and-move book, your
children will hop with bunnies, and roar with a bear,
then smile to watch the animals overcome their
shyness and do some very silly dancing indeed!”
[back cover].

Review
Young boy moves about the forest to motivate the animals to dance.

Try! Try! Try! Such an interesting title. It is a call-to-action, which will catch both young children and parents’ attention. Try what, you may ask? Looking inside, we see a young boy pointing a flashlight at a huge grizzly bear. The bear’s eyes open wide, looking more curious than dangerous. Spring forward, the little boy holds the bear’s paws and together they yell, “Roar!” The young boy continues through the wilderness, finding animals and performing some act familiar to the animal on the spread.
Climbing a tree, the boy says, “Birds love to fly. / So do I!” (page turn) “We flap-flap-flap / up to the sky!” The first half of the sturdy board book fills with animals who have heard such requests followed by the action. The last half begins with a party with all the previous animals as the guests. The boy asks them to dance, but the animals claim not to know how.

The young boy “flaps like a bird, wiggles side-by-side, hops” trying to be encouraging. It works! The animals try dancing and soon everyone is hopping, flapping, and roaring. The final spread is a party filled with pure joy.

Young children will like this upbeat board book. The illustrations, mostly against a blue background which changes as the day progresses. Once again, illustrator Ying Hui Tan adds humorous details which greatly enhance this wonderful board book.
In Our Tree is a cute board book ready to teach young children, ages infant to age four, a few basic colors. While the book is lovely, with interesting illustrations, for a more fulfilling and entertaining board book, try Try! Try! Try! Great for young children age infant to three, this board book is filled with beautiful illustrations and will get young children—and their adults—up off the couch and onto their feet dancing. My only question, what is going on in the PR verse?

IN OUR TREE. Text copyright © 2016 by Lindsey Craig. Illustrations copyright © 2016 by Rita Vigovszky. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Owlbop Publishing.

TRY! TRY! TRY! Text copyright © 2016 by Lindsey Craig. Illustrations copyright © 2016 by Ying Hui Tan. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Owlbop Publishing.

In Our Tree:   Amazon—Owlbop Publishing
Try! Try! Try!:   Amazon—Owlbop Publishing

Find In Our Tree on Goodreads HERE.
Find Try! Try! Try! on Goodreads HERE.

Lindsey Craig:  http://lindsey-craig-author-publisher.com/
Follow on Twitter        @lookout_science

Rita Vigovszky:  http://bit.ly/YingHuiTan
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Ying Hui Tan:  http://yinghuitan.com/
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Owlbop Publishing:  https://owlbop.wordpress.com/author/owlbop/
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Owlbop Publishing is owned by the author, Lindsey Craig.

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Reprinted with permission from IN OUR TREE © 2016 by Lindsey Craig, Owlbop Publishing, an imprint of COMPANY, Illustrations © 2016 by Rita Vigovszky.

Reprinted with permission from TRY! TRY! TRY! © 2016 by Lindsey Craig Owlbop Publishing, an imprint of COMPANY, Illustrations © 2016 by Ying Hui Tan

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Copyright © 2016 by Sue Morris/Kid Lit Reviews. All Rights Reserved

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In Our Tree
Written by Lindsey Craig
Illustrated by Rita Vigovszky
Owlbop Publishing 8/01/2016
97809967211233

Try! Try! Try!
Written by Lindsey Craig
Illustrated by Ying Hui Tan
Owlbop Publishing 8/01/2016
9780996721240