Bing Bang Pling includes simple, realistic, digital illustrations that are nice and clear for a toddler storytime. The text has short, rhyming sentences and fun onomatopoeias. The focus on everyday tools and building will be exciting and familiar to toddlers.

The book includes fun opportunities for interaction, like counting the nuts and screws or doing an ISpy for all the tools on the final page. I wish the cat was on every page, but the kitty also interacts with objects in the background which can make for great discussions when reading to a smaller group.

This book is not original, but building and construction have mass appeal. It is harder to find books with these themes including feminine-displaying main characters, so the book gets points for that. There is diversity of ethnicities and abilities in the background characters, but not in the main family. Rhyming and onomatopoeias are also big hits with kids. This isn’t an especially outstanding book, but I do think it would make a good addition to library collections.

Reviewed by Katie Drago, Rockland Public Library