A simple and approachable introduction to churchgoing from a child’s perspective.
Various children from diverse families participate in church activities as a Q&A text encourages readers to lift flaps.
An Asian-presenting child with pigtails stands in a bedroom, and the narration asks: “It’s time for church! What will I wear?” Little fingers can then open the closet door to select the appropriate Sunday-best outfit. This pattern is repeated on the subsequent 10 double-page spreads, with a brown-complexioned preschooler packing a Bible in a knapsack (the flap is the flap of the bag); families gathering at the titular church door, which readers can open; and a Sunday school teacher reading a Bible story to a racially diverse group of tots (the flap is one of its pages). The flaps are relatively sturdy, but they are difficult to pry open on the first attempt and have pointy, sharp corners. Often the flaps represent actual doors or lids, such as the top of the plastic container holding Sunday school arts-and-crafts supplies, but others don’t make much sense, like the flap with a picture of a contemplative white-presenting child that gets folded down to reveal a praying one. The theology is light here, as there is only one mention of God and none of Jesus, but the activities discussed will be familiar for the intended audience. The cartoon images depict a mostly generic, nondenominational setting, but there is a kneeler visible from one of the pews, which not all Protestant groups use.
A simple and approachable introduction to churchgoing from a child’s perspective. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Feb. 11, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-12769-8
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An excellent, rounded effort from a creator who knows how to deliver.
The farmyard's chickens experience Halloween.
A round, full moon shines in the sky, and the chickens of Boynton's barnyard are feeling “nervous.” Pumpkins shine “with flickering eyes,” witches and wizards wander the pastures, and one chicken has seen “a mouse of enormous size.” It’s Halloween night, and readers will delight as the chickens huddle together and try to figure out what's going on. All ends well, of course, and in Boynton's trademark silly style. (It’s really quite remarkable how her ranks of white, yellow-beaked chickens evoke rows of candy corn.) At this point parents and children know what they're in for when they pick up a book by the prolific author, and she doesn't disappoint here. The chickens are silly, the pigs are cute, and the coloring and illustrations evoke a warmth that little ones wary of Halloween will appreciate. For children leery of the ghouls and goblins lurking in the holiday's iconography, this is a perfect antidote, emphasizing all the fun Halloween has to offer.
An excellent, rounded effort from a creator who knows how to deliver. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Aug. 23, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7611-9300-5
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Workman
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
This will have readers putting on their dancing shoes to do the “cha cha cha” with their dino-babies
It's not the first time dinosaurs have been featured in a clever Boynton board book. It seems she—and we—can't get enough.
As her fans know, Boynton has a sly wit that respects the intelligence of her young fans and amuses the adults asked to “read it again.” In this book she introduces nine dinosaurs, each of which dances in a way that seems totally appropriate for that particular species. “The blue Stegosaurus goes SHIMMY SHIMMY SHAKE. / The red Brontosaurus goes QUIVERY QUAKE.” Drawing on her experience as a children’s musician, she writes a text that trips along like a song with rhymes that make sense but don't intrude. The illustrations, typical Boynton, reflect her greeting-card background. They are cartoonish but manage to capture the unique personality of each creature. The unnamed dinosaur narrator looks genuinely distraught at not being able to name the “tiny little dino” that “goes DEEDLY DEE.” Spoiler alert: the tiny little dinosaur is probably Compsognathus and would be about the size of a small chicken. Young dinophiles would be impressed if the dinosaurologists in their lives could supply that factoid, but alas, they will have to look it up.
This will have readers putting on their dancing shoes to do the “cha cha cha” with their dino-babies . (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-8099-4
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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