From Belgium, a kooky take on parenthood. As was the case with the old woman who lived in a shoe, a father has ten children and hardly knows what to do. Ten children mean ten of everything: ten breakfasts, ten pairs of underpants, ten t-shirts, ten jeans, not to mention twenty little socks and shoes. Every night he stays up late building a secret boat to sail around the world “all by himself . . . for ten days, or maybe even ten months.” After one day and night alone, he prepares his first solitary breakfast, automatically setting out ten cups, which makes him miss his children terribly. Soon after, father and his ten little mateys merrily set sail around the world. Large white backgrounds transform into a pleasingly turquoise sea as father sets sail; fat black outlines circumnavigate simple, round cheery shapes of the ten, wide-eyed, pink-faced cherubs, in a bright, refreshing style that shares a sensibility with Lucy Cousins’s art. The lone sailboat afloat in the ocean is a deliberate contrast to the clutter and confusion of life with ten children.(Picture book. 2-5)
Pub Date: May 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-8037-2446-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
One of a four-book series designed to help the very young prepare for new siblings, this title presents a toddler-and-mother pair (the latter heavily pregnant) as they read about new babies, sort hand-me-downs, buy new toys, visit the obstetrician and the sonographer, speculate and wait. Throughout, the child asks questions and makes exclamations with complete enthusiasm: “How big is the baby? What does it eat? I felt it move! Is it a boy or girl?” Fuller’s jolly pictures present a biracial family that thoroughly enjoys every moment together. It’s a bit oversimplified, but no one can complain about the positive message it conveys, appropriately, to its baby and toddler audience. The other titles in the New Baby series are My New Baby (ISBN: 978-1-84643-276-7), Look at Me! (ISBN: 978-1-84643-278-1) and You and Me (ISBN: 978-1-84643-277-4). (Board book. 18 mos.-3)
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-84643-275-0
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Child's Play
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
A brief, rhythmic text combines lullaby with concept book. An African-American baby and parent are shown in the illustrations. “Wrap your arms around me, make a circle, hold me tight. I’ll take you spinning through the air, as daylight turns to night.” The cuddled child is in pajamas, the moon is “like a night-light hanging high,” while the stars and child’s face and features are more examples of the lovingly conveyed main theme. The illustrations, portholes in the center of increasingly darker borders as night descends, show the parent and child with round objects—a goldfish bowl, a round mirror, etc. Engel (The Shelf- Paper Jungle, 1994, etc.) uses watercolors to portray whimsical moonscapes and a starry sky in pleasing and memorable ways. (Picture book. 3-5)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-7614-5040-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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