For its age-appropriate facts, but most especially for its sweet and inviting illustrations, this is a nice addition to a...
Vibrant illustrations accompany various facts about baby animals in this toddler-friendly board book.
From the start, readers won’t be able to help but smile at Fuge’s charming illustrations of baby animals; there’s a tiny duck grasping at the finger of a baby chimpanzee! The rhyming quatrains keep the pace moving as they convey very basic facts about baby animals, perfect for a toddler audience. It’s true that meerkats are immune to the venom of some snakes, and so Fuge writes, “Meerkat babies aren’t afraid of snakes, as you can see,” to accompany an illustration of gleeful, teasing meerkats and a frazzled snake, a wonderful way to explain a complicated fact. Fuge’s watercolor images walk the line between realistic and cartoon, giving the animals clear personality while still appearing true-to-life. For the most part, the rhymes read well and aren’t forced, though many eyes will be rolling at the line “Daddy sea horse has the babies, without any fuss.” Though it doesn’t make any sense in terms of adherence to reality, the final double-page spread of the baby animals asleep in a pile is simply adorable.
For its age-appropriate facts, but most especially for its sweet and inviting illustrations, this is a nice addition to a toddler’s bookshelf. (Board book. 18 mos-3)Pub Date: March 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-63322-548-0
Page Count: 20
Publisher: Moondance/Quarto
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
The art and writing can stand on their own while the gimmick will likely distract anyone reading aloud even as it delights...
A cow named Cuddly searches for a quiet place to hit the hay in this book with barnyard sounds supplied in an embedded sound chip.
From the cover, toddlers can push a big green button (which doubles as a speaker) to activate the chip, which features a loud moo with other animal sounds in the background; die-cut circles in the lower corner of the cover and subsequent pages ensure its accessibility throughout. Cuddly tries to bunk with the hens, a horse, and the pigs to no avail. She has a brainstorm and counts the sheep in a field and quickly falls asleep. Scheffler, of The Gruffalo fame, uses richly colored gouache to paint scenes with friendly, wide-eyed farm residents against pastoral backgrounds. Young readers may be confused to see a very bright sky in this tale set at twilight. Each one-page scene is paired with a nicely scanning quatrain set in a large font against a brightly colored background on the opposite page. In the companion title, titular Higgly Hen loses her eggs as they hatch, legs first, and then walk away. In slapstick fashion, she chases the walking eggs around the farm until she finds them all in time for them to complete their emergence. This offering sports a large yellow button that clucks realistically when pressed. The battery can be replaced by opening a panel (with a tiny Phillips screwdriver) in the back of the book, but caregivers may choose to let the noisemaker die a natural death.
The art and writing can stand on their own while the gimmick will likely distract anyone reading aloud even as it delights little ears and fingers. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: April 25, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7636-9325-1
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Nosy Crow
Review Posted Online: May 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Appealingly playful.
Little Mouse introduces little ones to various opposites in this lift-the-flap offering.
On the left-hand page, the cartoon mouse sets up the scene with a simple query and image: “What time is it, Little Mouse?” On the recto, the blocky text, accompanied by an image of the sun shining on the outside of the flap, reads: “It is daytime. The opposite of daytime is….” Inside the flap, with a star-spangled dark-blue night sky, is the answer: “night-time!” This pattern repeats for a total of eight opposite pairs, such as small and big, up and down, happy and sad, etc. The companion title, Counting Things, utilizes the same russet mouse for an enumeration of various items (tigers, chickens, cars, and such) up to 10. Oddly, the words for each number are written out rather than showing the more recognizable numerals. The opening of the flap cleverly adds one more to the objects being counted. Kövecses’ graphically appealing art uses stripped-down shapes in muted blocks of color to construct toddler-friendly images. The flaps are relatively sturdy with nicely rounded corners.
Appealingly playful. (Board book. 18 mos.-3)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-78603-038-2
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Wide Eyed Editions
Review Posted Online: Sept. 17, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2018
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