Crawling babies will pause to enjoy this story again and again, and older toddlers, perhaps remembering their own crawling...
It may be hard to believe just eight words can make a complete and exciting story, but that’s all this board book needs.
Repeated reading of simple text is how children first learn to read. Kennedy seems to understand this and has created an ideal package for early success. A series of two word exclamations and expressive drawings combine to tell the story of a diaper-clad tot’s evolving relationship with a skeptical hound dog. “Go baby / go baby / go baby. // Go dog.” The baby crawling across a blue floor shows up clearly against a bright yellow wallpaper decorated with simple light blue flowers. The only additions to this pleasing design are a cushy blue chair the baby peers under (“Look baby”) when the dog disappears through a doorway leading to a room with light blue, diamond-patterned wallpaper. Baby’s cries bring the dog back. Spoiler alert: Baby and dog end up sound asleep, together: “Nice baby. / Good dog.” The simple repetitive text shows up clearly when placed against the yellow wall. The text set against the bottom blue stripe is yellow so it stands out boldly too. Baby has pale skin and red hair; dog is white with brown splotches.
Crawling babies will pause to enjoy this story again and again, and older toddlers, perhaps remembering their own crawling escapades, will want it read repeatedly too. They may even read it to their dogs. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: March 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-8075-2971-3
Page Count: 20
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: June 10, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
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An excellent, rounded effort from a creator who knows how to deliver.
The farmyard's chickens experience Halloween.
A round, full moon shines in the sky, and the chickens of Boynton's barnyard are feeling “nervous.” Pumpkins shine “with flickering eyes,” witches and wizards wander the pastures, and one chicken has seen “a mouse of enormous size.” It’s Halloween night, and readers will delight as the chickens huddle together and try to figure out what's going on. All ends well, of course, and in Boynton's trademark silly style. (It’s really quite remarkable how her ranks of white, yellow-beaked chickens evoke rows of candy corn.) At this point parents and children know what they're in for when they pick up a book by the prolific author, and she doesn't disappoint here. The chickens are silly, the pigs are cute, and the coloring and illustrations evoke a warmth that little ones wary of Halloween will appreciate. For children leery of the ghouls and goblins lurking in the holiday's iconography, this is a perfect antidote, emphasizing all the fun Halloween has to offer.
An excellent, rounded effort from a creator who knows how to deliver. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Aug. 23, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7611-9300-5
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Workman
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
An upbeat early book on feelings with a simple storyline that little ones will respond to.
This simplified version of Diesen and Hanna’s The Pout-Pout Fish (2008) is appropriate for babies and toddlers.
Brief, rhyming text tells the story of a sullen fish cheered up with a kiss. A little pink sea creature pokes his head out of a hole in the sea bottom to give the gloomy fish some advice: “Smile, Mr. Fish! / You look so down // With your glum-glum face / And your pout-pout frown.” He explains that there’s no reason to be worried, scared, sad or mad and concludes: “How about a smooch? / And a cheer-up wish? // Now you look happy: / What a smile, Mr. Fish!” Simple and sweet, this tale offers the lesson that sometimes, all that’s needed for a turnaround in mood is some cheer and encouragement to change our perspective. The clean, uncluttered illustrations are kept simple, except for the pout-pout fish’s features, which are delightfully expressive. Little ones will easily recognize and likely try to copy the sad, scared and angry looks that cross the fish’s face.
An upbeat early book on feelings with a simple storyline that little ones will respond to. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-374-37084-8
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2014
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BOOK REVIEW
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