cbr14bingo Recommend Level 3
I am going to recommend this book to everyone I know even though My Ten Painted Nails: Bilingual Inuktitut and English Edition has only one flaw. I was unsure how to pronounce the Inuktitut words. Now, I could assume that since the text say in English, “this is pink” or “this is one,” I could assume which words were which, but still unsure how to pronounce it. Plus, I know some languages do not read in the same order as we do. Was it left/right or reversed? Or the sentence would be formatted differently with the words in “different orders?” These questions, and others, has made me curious about the language of Jennifer Jaypoody’s people. And I must comment that I found the Inuktitut language written out as quite artistic.
With that said, this is an adorable book about numbers, counting, colors and culture that even older children should have to help them. Though a board book format, this book is just fun and can be adapted to most needs. It is, at first, simple with its “this is my orange painted fingernail” and the counting and creatures on the various pages, but I was noticing games I could have played with all ages of children I used to babysit for.
And Emma Pedersen tossed together magic, I mean paints and art supplies, and made some far out, adorable illustrations. All are realistic in an illustrated way. There is a cross eyed pig that I just fell in love with, and the colors and details are perfect for the enthusiasm of the child narrator.
And here is another way this book is great. The child who is telling us about their nails and counting with us, is genderless. They are never gender identified, so anyone can see themselves within the character. They have a happy smile and happy clothing.
This book will be bad for bedtime or naptime reading as it will be like 10 pounds of sugar and keep your child awake, but just reading this energetic book will knock you adults out. Or at least, it did me!
