A delightful new visit with an old friend.
Martin, who gave the world the beloved Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, died in 2004, but another of his works is brought to life by his frequent collaborator, Sampson.
It’s all further enlivened by Sweet’s rosy, greeny-golden illustrations, which bring to very immediate life the animals on each page. A panoply of mommies of various ethnicities offer wake-up kisses and ask, “Can you hear the sounds of our world?” It is a big world: Gila monsters in the desert hiss; monkeys in the jungle cry “Eeee!”; lions on the plain roar (although they are baby lions, and their roars are clearly small if enthusiastic; the cubs themselves are levitating with excitement). Some of the sounds supplied do not give a very clear indication of what the animal sounds like—“Honk!” for elephants or “Wahhh!” for whales, for instance—but careful and alert adults can compensate for this while reading aloud. Each animal illustrated is listed at the end, with its habitat, location, and a fact or two. For the penguin, it is carefully pointed out that it is the male penguin who keeps the egg warm and the female who goes forth and hunts for food.
A delightful new visit with an old friend. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 15, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4424-5472-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015
An endearing ode to big siblinghood.
A buffalo is disconcerted when his daily routine is disrupted by a newborn.
Kalb begins with the playful rhymes and rhythms she employed in Buffalo Fluffalo (2024). Fluffalo, having learned a lesson in cooperation in his earlier outing, happily cavorts with Ram, Crow, and Prairie Dog before enjoying some thoughtful alone time and then settling down to sleep at dusk. A loud wailing sound wakes him at dawn and continues into daybreak. “‘What could that be?’ huffed tired old Fluffalo. / ‘I’ve said it before—I’ve had enuffalo!’” When he discovers that the sound is coming from a tiny buffalo, he becomes both irate and alarmed. Fortunately, his friends show up and assure him that the little one just needs some time to learn and grow. Fluffalo calms down and admits that the baby is a bit cute—something readers will have already realized, thanks to Kraan’s sweetly imaginative art. In the ensuing pages, Fluffalo mentors the loving Puffalo, including the baby in his daily activities and fielding (some of) Puff’s many questions. Readers with younger siblings will appreciate the subtle acknowledgment that Fluffalo’s new role can be taxing, but overall, the tale affirms the joy of mentoring, while the colorful, stylized art perfectly complements the upbeat verse. It’s easy to imagine an older child reading this story to a younger one at bedtime.
An endearing ode to big siblinghood. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2025
ISBN: 9780593810309
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House Studio
Review Posted Online: June 13, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
While the slapstick may appeal to readers, sadly, this book is so confused and arbitrary, most of the humor falls flat.
A beleaguered giraffe tries to communicate that he isn’t a chair.
Poor Giraffe: on his first day in the jungle he’s seen as a chair by the other animals. Of course, giraffes aren’t actually found in jungles, and there’s little evidence of a jungle in the illustrations. While Giraffe does look a little like a chair, the fact that he has eyes and a mouth and nose and other features that distinguish the other animals from their seats makes it hard to understand why he is mistaken for a chair. But it’s all about the gag. Burach uses action-filled spreads to indicate a series of incidents that literally impede Giraffe’s speech, but when he is finally able to speak up for himself, he chooses instead to make a fake chair that looks like him. When that doesn’t work, he’s taken home by a dull-witted human who also uses him for a chair. Upon escaping, he is used as a chair by a lion waiting for dinner. When Giraffe finally decides to speak up and clear up the misunderstanding, he saves his own skin by scaring the lion, who thinks he’s a talking chair. The childlike drawings emphasize googly eyes, silly grins, a multitude of sound effects in emphatic display type, and lots of physical humor.
While the slapstick may appeal to readers, sadly, this book is so confused and arbitrary, most of the humor falls flat. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-236016-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2016
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