Huggy is an adorable character, no mean feat for a python; here’s hoping more of these tender life lessons in the Wee...
Readers teach Huggy the Python how to be gentle.
True to his name, this green, top-hat–wearing, scarf-sporting snake “LOVES to hug the things he loves.” However, disaster ensues when he hugs a balloon and then an oversized bowl of ice cream. “OOPS! You hugged too hard, Huggy.” The unseen narrator stops the action before Huggy can do any damage to a “fuzzy little dog.” Readers are instructed to give the impossibly cute, huge-eyed little pooch a model, “GENTLE” hug, and the dog’s happy dance combines with exuberant confetti to underscore that it “was a GREAT gentle hug!” Huggy learns by this example and follows suit (though his enthusiastic, simultaneous embrace of a tube of toothpaste makes it clear just what the self-control costs him). Dyckman’s jaunty, conversational narration and Griffiths’ fluid and charming cartoons in cheery colors against white backgrounds are perfectly matched. Roary the Lion Roars Too Loud publishes simultaneously.
Huggy is an adorable character, no mean feat for a python; here’s hoping more of these tender life lessons in the Wee Beasties series are on the way. (Board book. 2-3)Pub Date: May 29, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5344-1080-0
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
Just as visually appealing as the app at first glance, and possibly even more durable—but showing considerable fall-off in...
The blue cat that starred in the excellent app A Present for Milo (2010) makes an awful crossover from the digital domain.
Printed on extra-sturdy boards with folded (rather than glued) flaps, the episode sends Milo in search of his missing ball of string. Led by a helpful mouse, he discovers piles of yarn in various geometric shapes that, once each flap is lifted, reveal common items of the same shape. These range from a square slice of cheese to a triangular piece of pizza to a rectangular granola bar. Meanwhile, behind Milo, two other mice roll up the continual line of multicolored yarn that loops through each cartoon scene so that by the end the ball is restored. Not only is the prose numbingly wooden (“Little mouse,” says Milo, “will you help me find my ball of string?”), it is confusingly phrased. Milo rejects the square because it has “four sides,” which doesn’t distinguish it from the rectangle, and the oval egg isn’t like a ball because it’s “sort of round-ish but also long-ish.” Moreover, the concluding general romp comes off less as a resolution to the plotline than filler for the final spread. In marked contrast to his app incarnation, Milo is no more than a static presence in the art, his body shape even duplicated in some scenes rather than redrawn.
Just as visually appealing as the app at first glance, and possibly even more durable—but showing considerable fall-off in narrative quality and awareness of audience. (Board book. 2-3)Pub Date: June 25, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-60905-209-6
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Blue Apple
Review Posted Online: April 17, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2012
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The appealing topic combined with easy-to-operate pull tabs and sliders will make this a toddler favorite.
Bizzy Bear learns what it’s like to be a knight as he visits a castle to try his paw at jousting.
This chunky board title features cute Bizzy Bear, and short, simple rhymes tell the story of his day at a castle. Bizzy begins by donning some armor: “Bizzy Bear, Bizzy Bear, here to be a knight. / Bizzy Bear, Bizzy Bear, fits just right!” Readers can help Bizzy by sliding the helmet’s visor up and down with an easy-to-grip tab. Additional tabs on subsequent pages allow little hands to help Bizzy as he brandishes a sword and wins a jousting contest. On the final double-page spread, he is pictured with a trophy, surrounded by friends and enjoying a spectacular feast. The illustrations are vivid and engaging, the storyline appropriately simple, and the interactive features both well-designed and well-constructed. In companion volume Zookeeper, the sliders and tabs enable youngsters to interact with various zoo animals. For example, an easy up-and-down motion makes a crocodile chomp, and the spin of a wheel makes some hungry penguins swim after their fish dinner. The busyness of the illustrations gear both books to toddlers.
The appealing topic combined with easy-to-operate pull tabs and sliders will make this a toddler favorite. (Board book. 2-3)Pub Date: March 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7636-7602-5
Page Count: 8
Publisher: Nosy Crow
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2015
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