Nothing novel in this one, but babies will love knowing just what to do with it.
Match gear and garments with babies’ activities, hidden beneath each flap.
Each page in this board book asks readers to predict “What is baby going to do?” based on a description and a picture of baby in the described garb. A flip of the flap reveals the baby in the logical matching locale: going sledding, splashing in puddles, taking a bath. The text is simple and direct, the Q&A formula repeated with each page turn, the question always the same. Visually echoing the textual repetition, the illustrations follow a format. Each dressed-up baby is featured against a solid color background. All of the babies have enormous, round heads, and their minimalist facial features are the same; variations are seen in skin color and outfit. Every baby has a different skin tone, and a baby of color is featured on the cover. Perdomo makes use of swaths of simple, bright colors. Details are reserved for the space beneath the flap, showing family pictures on a dining room wall or tiny illustrated picture books. The layout of this book is familiar—a boon for little listeners, who will be able to manipulate the large, thick flaps with ease and who will enjoy the confidence that predictability provides. Companion title What Is Mommy Going to Do? follows the same patterned format.
Nothing novel in this one, but babies will love knowing just what to do with it. (Board book. 0-2.)Pub Date: Feb. 25, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-71125-059-8
Page Count: 14
Publisher: Words & Pictures
Review Posted Online: April 7, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2020
A joyful celebration.
Families in a variety of configurations play, dance, and celebrate together.
The rhymed verse, based on a song from the Noodle Loaf children’s podcast, declares that “Families belong / Together like a puzzle / Different-sized people / One big snuggle.” The accompanying image shows an interracial couple of caregivers (one with brown skin and one pale) cuddling with a pajama-clad toddler with light brown skin and surrounded by two cats and a dog. Subsequent pages show a wide array of families with members of many different racial presentations engaging in bike and bus rides, indoor dance parties, and more. In some, readers see only one caregiver: a father or a grandparent, perhaps. One same-sex couple with two children in tow are expecting another child. Smart’s illustrations are playful and expressive, curating the most joyful moments of family life. The verse, punctuated by the word together, frequently set in oversized font, is gently inclusive at its best but may trip up readers with its irregular rhythms. The song that inspired the book can be found on the Noodle Loaf website.
A joyful celebration. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-22276-8
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Rise x Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
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