A pleasant introduction to the power in sticking together.
Animals discover they are not alone.
There’s strength in numbers in this board book. Each page features a single animal looking for some sort of assistance. When little readers lift the large flaps on the recto of each spread, the scene changes to a group of animals solving the problem. A lone prairie dog nervously confronts a snake but is then defended by his family once the flap is lifted. A baby crow hungrily spots a worm out of reach in a tree; it’s then lowered by her mother so she can eat it. The book ends with a brown-skinned baby alone in a living room, and the flap lifts to reveal loving dads (one white, one black), siblings, and grandparents. The illustrations are made of comfortably round lines and are bright with a primary-color palette that little readers are quite familiar with. There is value added with vocabulary that introduces the names of animal babies and collective names, where appropriate. This is likely to be overshadowed by the die-cut shapes in each lifting flap that, when closed, isolate the single animal that is depicted with its family underneath. These cutouts are quite detailed, including tails and individual toes, and although the pages are of sturdy stock, they are likely to fall victim to little fingers before long.
A pleasant introduction to the power in sticking together. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2538-8
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Abrams Appleseed
Review Posted Online: Aug. 6, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2018
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Not a great choice for the youngest dinosaur lovers.
A board-book ode to parental love as old as the dinosaurs.
A line of text on the left of each spread reads like a dinosaur-themed valentine that a third grader might choose, with punishingly punny wordplay that incorporates dinosaur-related words. On the facing page a dinosaur pair—a baby and an adult—gaze lovingly into each other’s eyes against whimsical, pastel-hued prehistoric-ish backgrounds. In smaller print, in all caps, at the bottom of the left page is the scientific name for the dinosaur referenced by the text and picture followed by a helpful phonetic pronunciation guide. White-outlined footprints appear next to their names, though the white is sometimes difficult to see against the pastel pages. Ten of the best-known dinosaurs are included. Twisting the dinosaur names to fit the loving sentiments succeeds some of the time but more often results in tortured text, well beyond the understanding of the board book audience. The line accompanying two hugging velociraptors, for instance, is just confusing: “Wrap-TOR arms around me, / with you I’ll always stay.” Others are just plain clumsy: “I-wanna-GUANODON you kisses, / I truly just adore you.” Very young children, even those fascinated by dinosaurs, will not get it. Older dinosaur fans will be put off by the babyish format.
Not a great choice for the youngest dinosaur lovers. (Board book. 18 mos.-3)Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7282-2295-0
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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