Toddlers will be ready to sing “Old MacDonald” after this board-book guessing game.
Wake up! It’s time to meet the farm animals.
A rooster with boldly colored plumage begins the morning wake-up call against a sunrise-peach sky. The dog wakes—“Woof, woof!”—and rouses the sheep: “Baa!” And so it goes, with cow, horse, pig, and goat each taking center stage by turn. Each animal gets full-spread treatment against clear blue skies and uncluttered backdrops. The signature noise and name of each animal are set in boldface within two sentences of descriptive text. Following this description, the narrator spies a tail, ear, hoof, or horn on the right edge of each spread that hints at which animal will appear next. On each spread, a tiny mouse that’s hidden in plain sight sleeps through the noise, finally waking on the penultimate spread, in which: “Shhh! The cat is still sleeping.” The final-spread reprise of all eight farm animal sounds finally wakens the cat. The smiling, large-scale animals make it clear what toddler readers should focus on, the simple, farm-scene backgrounds putting the animals in context without too many distractions. Guessing which animal is next and searching for the hidden mouse provide just the right amount of interaction for the target age group.
Toddlers will be ready to sing “Old MacDonald” after this board-book guessing game. (Board book. 18 mos.-3)Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-60537-568-7
Page Count: 18
Publisher: Clavis
Review Posted Online: Dec. 24, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2021
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
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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
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