Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Jones (Orange, Triangle, Fox) uses alliteration and words with double Ls to spin a playful story about two animals who find common ground. Lloyd, a pink and fluffy llama, loves all things ll, from roller-coasters and lollipops to his buddies Stella Gazelle, Billy Bullfrog, and Willow Armadillo. (Jones highlights these and other double Ls with pink type.) An equally fluffy alpaca named Al is obsessed with A activities, "like apples, art, and air guitar./ and his fur is azure blue." Initially indifferent to each other (one funny scene shows the animals standing at opposite sides of a spread, frowning in mutual indignation), they eventually bond over allergies, allspice cake, and alligator shows-things that appeal to both of their proclivities. The inherent similarities between these two camelid species-which Jones's humorous gouache-and-pencil illustrations make very clear-are a big part of the book's fun, but the sometimes bumpy rhyming ("When choosing between action or thriller,/ they simply could not agree./ While Al enjoyed toast with apricot jam,/ Lloyd preferred grape jelly") keeps it from fully hitting its mark. Ages 5-7. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-Lloyd Llama loves the color yellow, roller coasters, and lollipops. Al Alpaca adores azure blue, art, and apples. At first the pair seem extremely different. Could these two ever have anything in common? Lloyd and Al discover that they both like allspice cake, their allowances, and alligator shoes. They also realize that they both have allergies. This story provides useful teaching opportunities about friendship and accepting the differences of others. Alliteration is the other major aspect of the book. While most of the repetition of letters is whimsical and entertaining, the spelling rules seem a bit advanced for the audience that would be attracted to the artwork. The guache and colored pencil illustrations are drawn simply. Lloyd is a pink llama, and Al is a blue alpaca, and the images work best when the background is muted to direct readers' focus to the main characters. The font size is good for beginning readers, and all of the double L's appear in pink, while the A's are in blue. VERDICT A welcome addition to teachers' collections or for one-on-one reading, but not necessarily a first picture book purchase.-Barbara Spiri, Southborough Library, MA © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A pink llama and a blue alpaca find common ground in this orthographically themed friendship story. Just as Lloyd Llama loves everything with a double "l," from "lollipops" to "cello," Al Alpaca grooves on "apples, art, air guitar" and anything else that starts with "a." Initially contentious, their relationship undergoes a transformation when they discover with a pair of sneezes that they both have "allergies"and go on to discover a mutual fondness for "alligator shoes," baking "allspice cakes," and biking down "alleyways." This tale of togetherness, though as fuzzy as the matted pelts of its principals, is marred by inconsistencies. Drawn with rumpled anthropomorphism in Jones' palely colored cartoon illustrations, Lloyd and Al look young and energetic in some scenes but in others, more like a baggy-eyed old couple. Moreover, the narrative starts off in prose but then breaks into labored rhyme: "When choosing between action or thriller, they simply could not agree. / While Al enjoyed toast with apricot jam, Lloyd preferred grape jelly." The "ll"s and initial "a"s are printed in pink and blue respectively, though some "a"s go unremarked. Jones adds lots of additional examples of the favored letters in background signs and other details. Rough around the edges, but readers still llearning their lletters will enjoy the elementary wordplay promoted by these pastel pals. (Picture book. 3-5) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
