by Alice Le Hénand ; illustrated by Thierry Bedouet ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2018
A playful, pull-the-tab potty-training book that’s reassuring, too.
Storytime meets potty time in this board book with movable parts.
This French import features a different pair of anthropomorphic animals on each spread. One is a parent (Mommy or Daddy) and the other a child of the same species who is learning to use the potty. Instead of letting page turns show each child’s experience, a tab pulls out on each recto to reveal a changed scene. For example, at first Little Crocodile is not ready to try to use the potty, and Daddy doesn’t rush him, but he makes sure Little Crocodile knows that the potty is ready when he is. Then pull the tab, and Little Crocodile is happily sitting on the potty, with his teddy nearby on another one. Subsequent pages show other animal children who: wear underwear instead of diapers; have an accident; don’t need to go; and need help with their clothes. Peeing and pooping on the potty are both addressed, too. The book concludes with all of the animals getting ready for a nap. The line “A clean diaper, a teddy, a kiss, and it’s off to bed!” provides reassurance that learning to use the potty is a process that happens over time. The big-eyed, rounded characters in the pictures reinforce the text’s gentle, encouraging tone, and uncluttered backgrounds allow focus to remain on the characters.
A playful, pull-the-tab potty-training book that’s reassuring, too. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: May 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-2-74599-547-6
Page Count: 14
Publisher: Twirl/Chronicle
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
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by Alice Le Hénand ; illustrated by Thierry Bedouet
by Alice Le Hénand ; illustrated by Thierry Bedouet ; translated by Wendeline A. Hardenberg
by Alice Le Hénand ; illustrated by Thierry Bedouet ; translated by Wendeline A. Hardenberg
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by Patricia Hegarty ; illustrated by Thomas Elliott ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 3, 2021
Guess how much you’ll be reading this.
Parent and child share a day of small adventures and cozy snuggles.
That the two happen to be tortoises is totally beside the point. Die-cut holes and shaped edges turn nearly every page flip into a surprise. Following a parental “Good morning, Baby” to greet the youngling’s “Wake up, wake up, I want to play… / The sun is up, it’s a brand new day!” the two reptiles ramble off to munch on leaves, weather a sudden rain shower, discover a flock of butterflies, climb a hill, watch the moon rise, and, at last, weary little one perched on top, settle down to snooze again. The paper engineering is ingenious. Turning a seemingly arbitrarily shaped page with a special window framing a pink butterfly fills the spread with many jewel-toned insects; even though the tortoises never change position, the scene is completely transformed. Hegarty’s rhymed narrative features lots of tender sentiments—“Wherever you are, wherever you go, / Baby, I’ll always love you so”—while steering clear of any gender references. In Elliott’s peaceful, grassy settings the wanderers’ small smiles and shared glances likewise create a sense of loving intimacy. This is likely to become a victim of its own appeal, being as the paper stock is rather too flimsy to survive much contact with toddler hands. Still, a clear winner for sharing with audiences of one or dozens.
Guess how much you’ll be reading this. (Novelty. 18 mos.-3)Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7282-3509-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2021
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by Rose Rossner ; illustrated by Junissa Bianda ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 5, 2021
Not a great choice for the youngest dinosaur lovers.
A board-book ode to parental love as old as the dinosaurs.
A line of text on the left of each spread reads like a dinosaur-themed valentine that a third grader might choose, with punishingly punny wordplay that incorporates dinosaur-related words. On the facing page a dinosaur pair—a baby and an adult—gaze lovingly into each other’s eyes against whimsical, pastel-hued prehistoric-ish backgrounds. In smaller print, in all caps, at the bottom of the left page is the scientific name for the dinosaur referenced by the text and picture followed by a helpful phonetic pronunciation guide. White-outlined footprints appear next to their names, though the white is sometimes difficult to see against the pastel pages. Ten of the best-known dinosaurs are included. Twisting the dinosaur names to fit the loving sentiments succeeds some of the time but more often results in tortured text, well beyond the understanding of the board book audience. The line accompanying two hugging velociraptors, for instance, is just confusing: “Wrap-TOR arms around me, / with you I’ll always stay.” Others are just plain clumsy: “I-wanna-GUANODON you kisses, / I truly just adore you.” Very young children, even those fascinated by dinosaurs, will not get it. Older dinosaur fans will be put off by the babyish format.
Not a great choice for the youngest dinosaur lovers. (Board book. 18 mos.-3)Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7282-2295-0
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
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by Rose Rossner ; illustrated by Jessica Gibson
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