Despite the book’s design flaws, this offering featuring an expecting family of color is a welcome new arrival.
A toddler imagines all the different creatures and things that could be growing or hiding in Mummy’s pregnancy bump.
This trousers-wearing tyke with brown skin and short curly brown hair hugs Mummy and, in the gentle if uninspiring rhyming text, asks a string of questions about her belly: “Is it a watermelon? That would be funny! / Or is it a little jumping bunny!” The tot goes on to wonder with fanciful logic if the bump could be an odd assortment of things of wildly different shapes and sizes, including an elephant, some new toys, a lion, and a mouse. In the end, the youngster realizes that it must be a baby sister and a new playmate. Here the preschooler is joined by a pink-clad toddler girl with matching coloring and straight, brown hair. The art, consisting of highly stylized cartoons adorned with swaths of colors and occasional patterned designs, appears strangely cropped, as if the original, Chilean edition were a different trim size than this 6 ½-inch-square book. Key figures often appear at the edges of the pages, and readers never see the mother in toto.
Despite the book’s design flaws, this offering featuring an expecting family of color is a welcome new arrival. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: March 15, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-78285-976-5
Page Count: 20
Publisher: Barefoot Books
Review Posted Online: May 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2020
A delightful offering that will be especially welcome as a gift for baby showers and new parents.
A doting parent offers tender assurances to a tiny child.
An adult tiger vows that they will be everlastingly devoted to their baby and at their side in every circumstance, under all conditions, no matter what, no matter when—and without the child’s having to change for any reason…ever. The pair, whose genders are unspecified, are endearingly depicted very close to each other, their bodies often entwined, over the course of a day and night. The enraptured cub listens carefully, taking the warm, comforting, empowering message to heart, not missing a word as the pair explore their habitat, reinforcing the idea of togetherness close to home and farther afield. Loving words like these from parents to children can’t be said often enough—and children can’t hear such esteem-building confidences often enough. The tiger’s soothing words are delivered in gentle, lilting verse. The very sweet illustrations, created digitally, depict this appealing duo expressively; especially charming are scenes of the pair captured beneath a starry night sky. Though there’s little new here, parent-child affirmations are always welcome. Grown-ups sharing this title shouldn’t be surprised if their own offspring want to hear it more than once. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A delightful offering that will be especially welcome as a gift for baby showers and new parents. (Picture book. 1-3)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5362-2665-2
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Templar/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2022
A worthy if imperfect read for caregivers looking to introduce different cultures to their children.
Little readers learn how to say “I love you” in different languages.
This board book takes little ones on a tour of the world as rhymes in an abcb scheme explain the different ways cultures say “I love you.” In Italy they say “Ti amo,” while in Egypt there’s “Bahibak,” but little readers will notice that in every culture, no matter what words are said, the characters’ loving expressions stay the same. The phrase “I love you” is set in colored, boldface display type; each different translation is colored differently. The German “Ich liebe dich” is orange, and the Russian “Ya tebya lyublyu” is blue. All of the translations have phonetic spellings beneath them to help caregivers with pronunciation. The loose, line-and-watercolor illustrations feature people of all colors in famous and recognizable locales, emphasizing the expansive world that is still connected by a simple phrase. One drawback is that specific languages are not identified, which may lead readers to conclude that Egyptians speak “Egyptian” and that in both India and China but one language is spoken.
A worthy if imperfect read for caregivers looking to introduce different cultures to their children. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Dec. 5, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5344-0012-2
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2018
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