Big on gimmick, slight on story. (Board book. 2-4)
Youngsters pull a tab to manipulate a wolf cub’s mandible.
Said tab is located on the top of each alternating page, and little fingers can easily use it to raise a sturdy panel with a jagged lower edge that resembles teeth. Wolf cub Harry, it turns out, has playful rather than carnivorous tendencies, and he wants only to scare and tease the sheep and bunnies he meets in the forest. The companion book, Crocodile Snap, uses the same interactive feature but features a croc named Brock. Brock doesn’t want to scare anyone and is a little frustrated that all his fellow water creatures run away when he flashes his teeth. In the end, a boatload of tourists finally appreciates and takes pictures of his smile. While little ones will have fun chomping and enjoy Costamagna’s friendly cartoons in flat, highly saturated colors, these titles are scant on story despite the dense-for-the-format text. Harry comes across as a bit of a bully, and Brock registers as clueless. Also, in a serious design flaw, critters on adjacent pages are often visible through Harry’s and Brock’s open mouths, which makes them look as though they’re being eaten.
Big on gimmick, slight on story. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4998-0200-9
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Little Bee Books
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
Parents of toddlers starting school or day care should seek separation-anxiety remedies elsewhere, and fans of the original...
A sweetened, condensed version of the best-selling picture book, The Kissing Hand.
As in the original, Chester Raccoon is nervous about attending Owl’s night school (raccoons are nocturnal). His mom kisses him on the paw and reminds him, “With a Kissing Hand… / We’ll never be apart.” The text boils the story down to its key elements, causing this version to feel rushed. Gone is the list of fun things Chester will get to do at school. Fans of the original may be disappointed that this board edition uses a different illustrator. Gibson’s work is equally sentimental, but her renderings are stiff and flat in comparison to the watercolors of Harper and Leak. Very young readers will probably not understand that Owl’s tree, filled with opossums, a squirrel, a chipmunk and others, is supposed to be a school.
Parents of toddlers starting school or day care should seek separation-anxiety remedies elsewhere, and fans of the original shouldn’t look to this version as replacement for their page-worn copies. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: April 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-933718-77-4
Page Count: 14
Publisher: Tanglewood Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
For toddlers unafraid of typical Halloween imagery.
A troop of cats traverse a spooky landscape as they make their way to a party hosted by ghosts.
Each double-page spread shows the felines’ encounters with the likes of an owl, jack-o’-lanterns or a bat. One or two of these creepy meetings may be too abstract for the youngest readers, as the cats hear eerie noises with no discernible source on the page. The text, which consists of one rhyming couplet per scene, mostly scans despite a couple of wobbles: “Five black cats get a bit of a scare / As the flip-flapping wings of a bat fill the air.” The sleek, slightly retro art, likely created using a computer, depicts the cats cavorting at night through a shadowy cityscape, the countryside and a haunted house; they may scare some toddlers and delight others. A brighter color palette would have given the project a friendlier, more universal appeal. Luckily, the well-lit, final party scene provides a playful conclusion.
For toddlers unafraid of typical Halloween imagery. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-58925-611-8
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: Sept. 24, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2014
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