Babies, toddlers and very young emergent readers will delight in the strong, playful rhythm and energetic and detailed...
Time to play!
Mischievous farm animals have a day full of adventure when their farmer sets out on his tractor early one morning. Colorful acrylic spreads burst with action, while the cheerful, catchy text consists entirely of rhymed, onomatopoeic animal sounds (“neigh neigh baa baa / moo moo tweet / honk honk oink oink / arf cheep eek”) as the frolicsome cows, horses, birds, pigs, dogs and mice, as well as other animals, sing together to form a nonsensical chorus that toddlers will happily join. The endpapers show each animal with its sound, so children can refer back as they learn to match the sounds to the farm’s various inhabitants. There’s not much these creatures can’t do, from climbing the roof and paddling down the river to hosting a proper picnic, riding a speedy roller coaster, waterskiing across the bay, flying in a plane and even dancing in the moonlight. But what will happen when the farmer returns? “Shh shh shhhhhhhh…,” Where’s that mouse? “Eek!”
Babies, toddlers and very young emergent readers will delight in the strong, playful rhythm and energetic and detailed illustrations in this introduction to the noisy world of animal sounds. (Picture book. 1-4)Pub Date: June 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6679-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: April 8, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
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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Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come.
Little Blue Truck and his pal Toad meet friends old and new on a springtime drive through the country.
This lift-the-flap, interactive entry in the popular Little Blue Truck series lacks the narrative strength and valuable life lessons of the original Little Blue Truck (2008) and its sequel, Little Blue Truck Leads the Way (2009). Both of those books, published for preschoolers rather than toddlers, featured rich storylines, dramatic, kinetic illustrations, and simple but valuable life lessons—the folly of taking oneself too seriously, the importance of friends, and the virtue of taking turns, for example. At about half the length and with half as much text as the aforementioned titles, this volume is a much quicker read. Less a story than a vernal celebration, the book depicts a bucolic drive through farmland and encounters with various animals and their young along the way. Beautifully rendered two-page tableaux teem with butterflies, blossoms, and vibrant pastel, springtime colors. Little Blue greets a sheep standing in the door of a barn: “Yoo-hoo, Sheep! / Beep-beep! / What’s new?” Folding back the durable, card-stock flap reveals the barn’s interior and an adorable set of twin lambs. Encounters with a duck and nine ducklings, a cow with a calf, a pig with 10 (!) piglets, a family of bunnies, and a chicken with a freshly hatched chick provide ample opportunity for counting and vocabulary work.
Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come. (Board book. 1-4)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-544-93809-0
Page Count: 16
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
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