by Ann Whitford Paul ; illustrated by David Walker ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 17, 2017
Surely adult and child pairs reading this together will find ways to mimic the animals’ ways of expressing their love:...
Paul and Walker team up again to present the youngest listeners with an “I love you” book.
Their previous book If Animals Kissed Good Night (2008) looked at the various ways parents might smooch their little ones and both emphasized the animals’ physical traits and provided names for their young. This latest does the former (partially) with regard to animals’ actions but, sadly, not the latter. The verses remain bouncy and fun to read aloud, however; in answering the titular prompt, “Secretary bird would type with claw feet / warm, tender words with a click-clack beat,” and “Impala would speak with a leapity-leap. / ‘I love you, my grandchild, a heapity-heap.’ ” Love isn’t reserved for just parent and child: siblings, cousins, and friends also get in on the act. Walker’s adorable animals freely share their love, a gorilla and infant appearing multiple times throughout; the book ends with them snuggled together asleep. Other animals include whale, boa, lion, cheetah, spider, ostrich, and alligator. Only one shows a grouping that could be construed as a nuclear family of two parents and children.
Surely adult and child pairs reading this together will find ways to mimic the animals’ ways of expressing their love: blowing bubbles and splashing in the tub, a boa-like “squish-hugging squeeze,” and playful wrestling. (Picture book. 2-6)Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-374-30602-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
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by Ann Whitford Paul ; illustrated by David Walker
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by Sandra Magsamen ; illustrated by Sandra Magsamen ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 4, 2018
So sweet it’ll have readers heading for their toothbrushes.
Another entry in the how-much-I-love-you genre.
The opening spread shows a blue elephant-and-child pair, the child atop the adult, white hearts arcing between their uplifted trunks: “You’re a gift and a blessing in every way. / I love you more each and every day.” From there, the adult elephant goes on to tell the child how they are loved more than all sorts of things, some rhyming better than others: “I love you more than all the spaghetti served in Rome, // and more than each and every dog loves her bone.” More than stars, fireflies, “all the languages spoken in the world,” “all the dancers that have ever twirled,” all the kisses ever given and miles ever driven, “all the adventures you have ahead,” and “all the peanut butter and jelly spread on bread!” Representative of all the world’s languages are “I love you” in several languages (with no pronunciation help): English, Sioux, French, German, Swahili, Spanish, Hawaiian, Chinese, and Arabic (these two last in Roman characters only). Bold colors and simple illustrations with no distracting details keep readers’ focus on the main ideas. Dashed lines give the artwork (and at least one word on every spread) the look of 2-D sewn toys.
So sweet it’ll have readers heading for their toothbrushes. (Picture book. 2-6)Pub Date: Dec. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4926-8398-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2018
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by Sandra Magsamen ; illustrated by Melisa Fernández Nitsche
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by Audrey Penn ; illustrated by Barbara L. Gibson ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2014
Parents of toddlers starting school or day care should seek separation-anxiety remedies elsewhere, and fans of the original...
A sweetened, condensed version of the best-selling picture book, The Kissing Hand.
As in the original, Chester Raccoon is nervous about attending Owl’s night school (raccoons are nocturnal). His mom kisses him on the paw and reminds him, “With a Kissing Hand… / We’ll never be apart.” The text boils the story down to its key elements, causing this version to feel rushed. Gone is the list of fun things Chester will get to do at school. Fans of the original may be disappointed that this board edition uses a different illustrator. Gibson’s work is equally sentimental, but her renderings are stiff and flat in comparison to the watercolors of Harper and Leak. Very young readers will probably not understand that Owl’s tree, filled with opossums, a squirrel, a chipmunk and others, is supposed to be a school.
Parents of toddlers starting school or day care should seek separation-anxiety remedies elsewhere, and fans of the original shouldn’t look to this version as replacement for their page-worn copies. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: April 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-933718-77-4
Page Count: 14
Publisher: Tanglewood Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2014
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by Audrey Penn ; illustrated by Barbara L. Gibson
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