A good book to help little ones who feel a bit chicken about using the potty.
Can Peep convince Egg to overcome fears and use the potty?
Starting on the first page of the story, Peep, the larger of the two eponymous, anthropomorphic yellow chicks, encourages a reluctant Egg to use the potty. No amount of cajoling works, however, and Egg voices fears and repeats the titular refrain on alternating spreads until the middle of the book, when the chicks head outside. Here, Wan’s digital art shifts to embrace full-bleed double-page spreads that depict Peep and Egg outside with cows drinking lemonade, ducks frolicking by a stream, and sheep using a hose to wash a tractor. (Prior pages featured blank, white backgrounds to highlight only the characters, the potty, and toilet-paper roll.) Clever Peep is clearly hoping that these surroundings will prompt Egg to use the potty after all, but they do not. Finally Peep resorts to going inside to make toilet-paper tutus and dance about. This does the trick, and a desperate Egg finally uses the potty. In a comical twist, Peep ends up ruing Egg’s newfound confidence in using the potty when the little chick settles in on the throne with a good book and Peep must wait for a turn. Wan’s bean-shaped chicks are as appealing as ever, thick, smooth outlines and uncomplicated digital colors giving the book a friendly look.
A good book to help little ones who feel a bit chicken about using the potty. (Picture book. 1-3)Pub Date: Feb. 13, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-374-30328-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A pleasant holiday spent with a perfectly charming character.
One of Boynton's signature characters celebrates Halloween.
It's Halloween time, and Pookie the pig is delighted. Mom helps the little porker pick out the perfect Halloween costume, a process that spans the entire board book. Using an abcb rhyme scheme, Boynton dresses Pookie in a series of cheerful costumes, including a dragon, a bunny, and even a caped superhero. Pookie eventually settles on the holiday classic, a ghost, by way of a bedsheet. Boynton sprinkles in amusing asides to her stanzas as Pookie offers costume commentary ("It's itchy"; "It's hot"; "I feel silly"). Little readers will enjoy the notion of transforming themselves with their own Halloween costumes while reading this book, and a few parents may get some ideas as well. Boynton's clean, sharp illustrations are as good as ever. This is Pookie's first holiday title, but readers will surely welcome more.
A pleasant holiday spent with a perfectly charming character. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: July 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-553-51233-5
Page Count: 18
Publisher: Robin Corey/Random
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Perfect for Valentine’s Day, but the syrupy sweetness will cloy after the holiday.
Animal parents declare their love for their offspring in alphabetical order.
Each page displays an enormous capital letter, one line of verse with the keyword capitalized, and a loving nonhuman parent gazing adoringly at their baby. “A is for Always. I always love you more. / B is for Butterfly kisses. It’s you that I adore.” While not named or labelled as such, the A is also for an alligator and its hatchling and B is for a butterfly and a butterfly child (not a caterpillar—biology is not the aim of this title) interacting in some way with the said letter. For E there are an elephant and a calf; U features a unicorn and foal; and X, keyed to the last letter of the animal’s name, corresponds to a fox and three pups. The final double-page spread shows all the featured creatures and their babies as the last line declares: “Baby, I love you from A to Z!” The verse is standard fare and appropriately sentimental. The art is cartoony-cute and populated by suitably loving critters on solid backgrounds. Hearts accent each scene, but the theme of the project is never in any doubt.
Perfect for Valentine’s Day, but the syrupy sweetness will cloy after the holiday. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-7282-2095-6
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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