Children should relate to the emotions surrounding a lost toy and the happiness of its recovery, even if not by the original...
A shark and his goldfish pal look for a teddy bear that falls into the ocean in this picture book.
Sharkee, a sand tiger shark and mascot of Ripley’s Aquarium, sports a friendly grin and swims around with an unimpressed-looking goldfish companion. One day, they notice a teddy bear sinking into the ocean but then lose sight of it. “We decided to look for it,” says Sharkee, although the image depicts a surprised goldfish being grabbed abruptly by the fin and towed along. Sharkee asks several sea creatures about the teddy bear, but none have seen it—though sharp-eyed readers may notice the bear tucked under a baby octopus’s arm. Sharkee at last catches sight of the pair, and a hungry look on his face seems to bode ill—the usually expressionless goldfish becomes wide-eyed in alarm. But the final image shows Sharkee sweetly cuddling baby and bear. This book by the team of Bolin, Firpi, and Graziano (Bremner and the Party, 2018) provides minimal text that depends for its effectiveness on being paired with the full-page, colorful, and detailed illustrations. For example, a query to the blue lobster is reported as “He wasn’t very helpful” by the authors while the picture amusingly shows the understatement by depicting a grumpy, Snidely Whiplash–mustachioed crustacean pinching Sharkee’s nose. The contrast in the last pages between Sharkee’s fierce demeanor and his affectionate protectiveness is entirely wordless yet dramatic and nicely resolved.
Children should relate to the emotions surrounding a lost toy and the happiness of its recovery, even if not by the original owner.Pub Date: May 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-60991-208-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Ripley Publishing
Review Posted Online: April 10, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A pleasant holiday spent with a perfectly charming character.
One of Boynton's signature characters celebrates Halloween.
It's Halloween time, and Pookie the pig is delighted. Mom helps the little porker pick out the perfect Halloween costume, a process that spans the entire board book. Using an abcb rhyme scheme, Boynton dresses Pookie in a series of cheerful costumes, including a dragon, a bunny, and even a caped superhero. Pookie eventually settles on the holiday classic, a ghost, by way of a bedsheet. Boynton sprinkles in amusing asides to her stanzas as Pookie offers costume commentary ("It's itchy"; "It's hot"; "I feel silly"). Little readers will enjoy the notion of transforming themselves with their own Halloween costumes while reading this book, and a few parents may get some ideas as well. Boynton's clean, sharp illustrations are as good as ever. This is Pookie's first holiday title, but readers will surely welcome more.
A pleasant holiday spent with a perfectly charming character. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: July 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-553-51233-5
Page Count: 18
Publisher: Robin Corey/Random
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
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Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come.
Little Blue Truck and his pal Toad meet friends old and new on a springtime drive through the country.
This lift-the-flap, interactive entry in the popular Little Blue Truck series lacks the narrative strength and valuable life lessons of the original Little Blue Truck (2008) and its sequel, Little Blue Truck Leads the Way (2009). Both of those books, published for preschoolers rather than toddlers, featured rich storylines, dramatic, kinetic illustrations, and simple but valuable life lessons—the folly of taking oneself too seriously, the importance of friends, and the virtue of taking turns, for example. At about half the length and with half as much text as the aforementioned titles, this volume is a much quicker read. Less a story than a vernal celebration, the book depicts a bucolic drive through farmland and encounters with various animals and their young along the way. Beautifully rendered two-page tableaux teem with butterflies, blossoms, and vibrant pastel, springtime colors. Little Blue greets a sheep standing in the door of a barn: “Yoo-hoo, Sheep! / Beep-beep! / What’s new?” Folding back the durable, card-stock flap reveals the barn’s interior and an adorable set of twin lambs. Encounters with a duck and nine ducklings, a cow with a calf, a pig with 10 (!) piglets, a family of bunnies, and a chicken with a freshly hatched chick provide ample opportunity for counting and vocabulary work.
Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come. (Board book. 1-4)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-544-93809-0
Page Count: 16
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
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