A monstrously effective lid-dropper.
Why count sheep when an alphabetical array of monsters is queued up to crawl under the bed?
Lying wakeful in his moonlit bedroom, the pale-skinned lad from the I Need My Monster series begins with “A…is for Arms.” This cues the entry of a multilimbed, popeyed, purple-striped yellow creature at the head of a parade of blobby, slobbery boojums as wildly diverse of shape as they are saturated of hue. It’s almost a pity this book is codex bound instead of concertina folded, as careful design finds elements from the right edge of one double-page spread continuing on to the left edge of the next. The green-furred, horned monster on an early spread is revealed to have a long, spiked tail after the turn of the page, for instance, and the substance dripping from the many noses of a blue, finned creature makes quite the trail of bright pink ooze across the following spread. Readers will enjoy flipping back and forth to see the contiguity. Being all smiles and more likely to elicit snorts of amusement than screams of terror, the monstrous marchers crawling, oozing, slithering, or strolling into and out of view with each page turn have the intended soporific effect. As the alphabet progresses, the lines of narrative become more and more…stretched…out…until a final “Y…is…for…Yawn…and…Z……is for…” signal mission accomplished. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A monstrously effective lid-dropper. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-947277-49-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Flashlight Press
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
A sweet, springtime-themed reworking of a beloved tale.
The classic picture book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (1989) gets a makeover for Easter as the letters of the alphabet locate and decorate eggs.
The mission is simple: “Chicka chicka peek peek. / Everybody seek seek! / Find all the eggs / in the pretty pink tree.” The letters are making their way up the flowering tree in search of the hidden eggs when a “SNEEZE!” scatters everyone and the eggs fall and crack. Luckily, a bunny hops by with a haul of new ones, which the letters then paint and bedazzle, eventually sharing the newly decorated eggs with a group of bunnies. This picture book is a successfully Easter-fied version of the original: The letters go up; the letters fall down. Truly, though, that’s all the preschool crowd needs. Chung’s illustrations are simple and familiar, a direct echo of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. The letters appear in colorful, bold, block form. The book has few added details, just focal images like the tree and its pink flowers, the colorful eggs, tufts of grass, and some friendly rabbits. The alphabet appears in order (both upper- and lowercase letters) at the book’s open and close. The rhyming text follows the iconic cadence of the source material, making for a worthy read-aloud that will keep little hands turning pages.
A sweet, springtime-themed reworking of a beloved tale. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2026
ISBN: 9781665990646
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
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Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it.
A succession of animal dads do their best to teach their young to say “Dada” in this picture-book vehicle for Fallon.
A grumpy bull says, “DADA!”; his calf moos back. A sad-looking ram insists, “DADA!”; his lamb baas back. A duck, a bee, a dog, a rabbit, a cat, a mouse, a donkey, a pig, a frog, a rooster, and a horse all fail similarly, spread by spread. A final two-spread sequence finds all of the animals arrayed across the pages, dads on the verso and children on the recto. All the text prior to this point has been either iterations of “Dada” or animal sounds in dialogue bubbles; here, narrative text states, “Now everybody get in line, let’s say it together one more time….” Upon the turn of the page, the animal dads gaze round-eyed as their young across the gutter all cry, “DADA!” (except the duckling, who says, “quack”). Ordóñez's illustrations have a bland, digital look, compositions hardly varying with the characters, although the pastel-colored backgrounds change. The punch line fails from a design standpoint, as the sudden, single-bubble chorus of “DADA” appears to be emanating from background features rather than the baby animals’ mouths (only some of which, on close inspection, appear to be open). It also fails to be funny.
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 9, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-250-00934-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
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