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ANIMALS

Name: ANIMALS
Author: Chihiro Takeuchi
ISBN: 978-1-5362-1149-8

From the Paper Peek series

by Chihiro Takeuchi ; illustrated by Chihiro Takeuchi ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 15, 2020

Unique, ambitious art and concept but too challenging for the toddler set.

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Readers are challenged to seek and find animals from among complex cut-paper patterns.

The first of each pair of double-page spreads opens onto a solid-colored spread labeled with a continent (“South America”) or an environment (“The Oceans”) on verso and a large, evocatively shaped die-cut animal representative of that geographic area on recto. Glance through the purple Oceania kangaroo die cut to a collaged page teaming with miniscule, precisely trimmed local animals artfully arranged into a dizzying tableau. Though the collage work is skillful and the matte colors are harmonious—khaki, rust, and olive kangaroos; maroon kiwis and platypuses; and a few scattered lime crocodiles and turtles—the tightly crammed animals feel overwhelming, like a piece of frenetic scrapbooking paper. Busy pages make the “Can you find…?” counting challenge opposite the collage frustrating for a board-book audience. While Asia’s large, patterned “1 panda” or colorfully distinct “3 peacocks” are easy enough to spot, smaller animals, such as the “5 wild boars,” melt into the visual cacophony. Some, like Europe’s reindeer and horses, are difficult to visually differentiate, and budding naturalists may rail about the section combining penguins and polar bears in “the Arctic and the Antarctic.” Placing the ethnically ambiguous child floating through the world in a hot air balloon on each page (or, cleverly, in scuba gear on the “Oceans” page) is a nice touch.

Unique, ambitious art and concept but too challenging for the toddler set. (Board book. 2-4)

Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-5362-1149-8

Page Count: 34

Publisher: Candlewick Studio

Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS

- BOOK REVIEW
ALL IN A DAY
by Chihiro Takeuchi ; illustrated by Chihiro Takeuchi

- BOOK REVIEW
WHOSE BONES ARE THOSE?
by Chihiro Takeuchi ; illustrated by Chihiro Takeuchi

- BOOK REVIEW
CAN YOU FIND MY ROBOT'S ARM?
by Chihiro Takeuchi ; illustrated by Chihiro Takeuchi

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A KISSING HAND FOR CHESTER RACCOON

From the Kissing Hand series

by Audrey Penn ; illustrated by Barbara L. Gibson ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2014

Parents of toddlers starting school or day care should seek separation-anxiety remedies elsewhere, and fans of the original...

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
CHESTER RACCOON AND THE ALMOST PERFECT SLEEPOVER
by Audrey Penn ; illustrated by Barbara L. Gibson

- BOOK REVIEW
KAI TO THE RESCUE!
by Audrey Penn ; illustrated by Mike Yamada

- BOOK REVIEW
A COLOR GAME FOR CHESTER RACCOON
by Audrey Penn & illustrated by Barbara L. Gibson

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FIVE BLACK CATS

by Patricia Hegarty ; illustrated by Julia Woolf ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2013

For toddlers unafraid of typical Halloween imagery.

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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)