Boy and dog share the utter pleasure of creating art.
"I need to paint and draw every day," explains a round-headed kid with pencil-hatched hair in this sweet, carefully composed paean to creativity. Read full book review >
Following a game of make-believe, a grandmother shows her grandchildren her wedding album. Read full book review >
Setting a new standard for whiny neediness, an unseen narrator presents an alphabetical series of demands, beginning with "Adore me," and continuing on through "Kiss me," "Notice me," "Warm me" and "eXcuse me" to (with a picture of two figures on a bicycle) Read full book review >
Readers follow an apple from tree to market to mouth; when birds pick the seeds from the nibbled core, a tree sprouts, bursting with blossoms in spring and providing a new crop of apples in summer. Read full book review >
A girl's cherished party dress receives striking renovations through Murphy's bright mixed-media collage. Read full book review >
Zoo animals explore the ways they are different in this latest from Ziefert. Read full book review >
An oversized book distinguished by SAMi's trademark clean design and use of die-cuts encourages toddlers to examine small differences in facial features and expressions. Read full book review >
Mighty Max, as he calls himself, is an ordinary young boy who likes to wear a red cape. Read full book review >
"[W]hen the first snow of the year falls on the first day of winter, [the snowpeople] have a snow party!" Read full book review >
Eight simple poems in Haiku form, one for each night of Hanukkah, tell of family traditions and the joy of lighting the candles together, playing dreidel, eating latkes and applesauce, receiving shiny coins or Hanukkah gelt, singing and dancing and, of course, hearing the story of the Maccabees. Read full book review >
In alphabetical order, this cheery offering provides a succinct overview of a visit to the dentist. Read full book review >
"There are birds with big beaks, / but not even a few can / hold as much fruit / as the beak of a toucan." Read full book review >
Triangle, circle, square, rectangle, oval: Brightly colored die-cut pages allow toddlers to encounter these basic shapes in a variety of incarnations. Read full book review >
The tricky concept of relative number receives a cheery elucidation in this oversized board book. Read full book review >
Bessie, an untidy mouse, awakens one morning to a mess of monumental proportions. Read full book review >
Little Lulu fashions a unique birthday gift for her grandmother. Read full book review >
Ziefert enters Charlotte Zolotow territory with an intimate bit of give-and-take between little Edward, who wishes he were bigger, and his father as they walk home from the playground, engage in a bit of playful role reversal (" 'You've been a bad boy,' said Edward. 'And you haven't finished your juice.' ") and then get ready for bed. Read full book review >
In a terse alphabet for the self-absorbed, Bergen digitally adds an occasional background or detail to 26 close-up views of the vinyl animal characters she manufactures, which appear with such demanding captions as "Admire me," "Buckle me," "E-mail me," "Gimme!" Read full book review >
A sweet nighttime routine is followed by tears when Charlie can't sleep in his own bed—he doesn't know how. Read full book review >
In this sweetly sentimental tale, a little girl ponders the ultimate in grownup accomplishment. Read full book review >
Clowns, bears, monkeys, majorettes, acrobats, bands and strong men are among the many who march when the circus parade comes through town. Read full book review >
How do you cope when the thing you depend on for your security can't come with you to school? Read full book review >
This play rhyme in board book form invites young listeners to sashay like a menagerie of marine life, each one with its own verb: "Can you walk like a penguin? Read full book review >
Working with a medical doctor, the prolific Ziefert embeds basic information on the causes and symptoms of colds, stomach- and headaches, zits, blisters, allergies, and other common maladies in a slurry of heavy-handed humor (the "purpose" of carsickness "is to spread vomit all over the back seat of the car, so that parents can learn a lesson about long, boring car rides!") and lame versified asides: "I have a little plantar wart / That goes everywhere with me. / It's quite happy on my foot / But I think it's UGH-a-lee!" Read full book review >
In a sturdy board book, Ziefert and Zemke salute the bounty of Thanksgiving. Read full book review >
Rebecca, the skunk of the title, lives under a suburban back porch. Read full book review >
Caldecott Medal-winner Taback wields a strong black line and vibrating color on each of these pages, where an object sits on a plain white background. Read full book review >
Ziefert and Bolam team up again in this short but sweet foray into the bumpy landscape of childhood tumbles. Read full book review >
Like moms, dads need credit for all the "jobs" they do in the family. Read full book review >
Rocks with smaller-rock noses and painted-on eyes and mouths are nicely photographed and placed atop simply drawn bodies in this read-aloud for the nursery set. Read full book review >
Ziefert provides a quick scan of the skeleton, organized along the old neck-bones-connected-to-the-shoulder-bone routine, with a lot of names of the bones, a few trivial asides—the topmost neck bone is called the Atlas, because it holds up the head—and not enough solid information. Read full book review >
Cohen's reds, greens, and blues practically glow, and the sharp black outlines that he lays on them, particularly to highlight the human characters, recall both children's drawings and the winning nonchalance of Ludwig Bemelmans. Read full book review >
Ziefert offers a tale about saving, spending, and saving again. Read full book review >
When Farmer Donald removes 12 broken fence posts from the ground just before Mother Duck marches her 12 ducklings across the pasture, a gentle misadventure occurs. Read full book review >
Ziefert and McKie (Egad Alligator!, 2002, etc.) team up again with a story about the creative process. Read full book review >
The team that listed 39 Uses for a Friend (not reviewed) finds fewer uses for mothers, but at least as inventive ones. Read full book review >
Aiming to raise the consciousnesses of newly fledged readers about their sensoria, the prolific Ziefert presents a breezy tally of basic facts about smell, touch, taste, hearing, and sight. Read full book review >
The inverted logic of this patterned text by Ziefert (Halloween Has Boo, 2002, etc.) will be amusing to adult readers, but the humor may be lost on most of the traditional audience of the board book set. Read full book review >
Little Gator doesn't feel tired, so he decides to go exploring instead of taking a nap. Read full book review >
Ziefert and Bolam (Clara Ann Cookie, Go to Bed, not reviewed, etc.) have combined their talents again to introduce Murphy, the burly yellow Labrador who loves to eat. Read full book review >
Told from the unusual first-person point of view of a birdhouse, this picture book begins with the arresting announcement, "I am a birdhouse," over a picture of a birdhouse sporting a For Rent sign. Read full book review >
In a wry tale of toddlerhood, young Louie, firmly engrossed in his own world, has a hard time aligning his wants in accordance with other's desires. Read full book review >
With a nod to Freud for her inspiration, Ziefert suggests that animals dream just as people do. Read full book review >
An etiquette guide for the very young—with an ironic twist. Read full book review >
The business of a parade is to march along with style and zip and knock the socks off those who watch. Read full book review >
Ziefert (Hats Off for the Fourth of July!, see below, etc.) draws from a traditional African-American folktale by the same title to invoke the creation story from Genesis. Read full book review >
Ziefert and Bolam have collaborated on more felicitous projects than this clanky reworking of a familiar tale. Read full book review >
Meet Elemenopeo, a chubby black-and-white cat who takes pride in being able to come and go as he pleases, but discovers a hidden talent when his cat door is closed for repairs. Read full book review >
In a lighthearted look at the immigrant experience, Ziefert retells a cumulative 19th-century American poem that describes a cheerful man who comes to the US, buys a farm, sets up house, and makes a life. Read full book review >
Pushkin, a very personable white dog in a red sweater, loves his life, living with his people, Kate and Michael, on a quiet street, sharing their lives and sleeping in their bedroom. Read full book review >
With beginning readers in mind, Ziefert (The Tweeny-Tiny Woman, 1995, etc.) retells the traditional story of the magic pot that won't stop cooking in this entry in the Easy-to-Read series. Read full book review >
This retelling of an old English ghost story is designated Level 2 in this publisher's Easy-to-Read series (the books at this level have so few words that they look more like small picture books than easy readers). Read full book review >
