Interactive, reasonably durable, and (except for that “hive”) respectably informative entries in an above-average series.
“One Baby Bee” has other creatures to meet before she finds her 10 “buzzy” siblings.
First Baby Bee meets “Two wiggly worms,” passes “Three pretty flowers” to see “Four noisy birds,” and so on—the even-numbered animals all popping up in groups from beneath big, sturdy flaps (puzzlingly, the even numbers are not printed in boldface). Fuzziness rules in the pictures, as the bee (there seems to be only one, multiplied for the final scene) looks like a decorated yellow tennis ball, and, except for a flowerpot, a birdhouse, and nine wooden apples, all of the figures in the sunny garden scenes are crocheted or made from felt or cloth. The “hive” (actually, as is all too common, a wasps’ nest) Baby Bee’s family lives in has a soft, sculptural quality. Materials are more varied in the co-published First Words, in which some three dozen labeled toys, paper images, plastic and plush food, articles of clothing, and fabric play figures (including, as the only humanoid, white “Daisy Dolly”) aim to expand toddlers’ vocabularies significantly. Both volumes sport rounded corners and are printed on heavy, wipeable card stock.
Interactive, reasonably durable, and (except for that “hive”) respectably informative entries in an above-average series. (Pop-up board book. 1-3)Pub Date: March 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4654-6840-6
Page Count: 12
Publisher: DK Publishing
Review Posted Online: Feb. 18, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2018
A disappointing twist on a popular theme. More gimmick than engaging.
This noisy board book is designed to thrill tots fascinated with all things construction.
A tactile backhoe digger is center stage on each of the five cutout pages, complete with flaps. Brief rhyming text describes the machine’s actions as it works throughout the day. Animal characters engaged in manual labor or operating other machinery—a bulldozer, crane, road roller, and dump truck—describe more work that goes on at a construction site in small speech bubbles. Finding the mouse in every scene adds to the fun. On each page, a little bird sporting a hard hat invites young builders to press various parts of the silicone digger to activate a range of distinct sounds. The digger’s track pad sounds different from the sound of its arm moving dirt. The problem is that the digger itself is passive; the track pad and arm don’t actually move. The machine stays in the same place on every spread. The caution light beeps but doesn’t light up. Savvy kids will quickly realize that all the sounds are accessible from the first spread without having to turn the pages. The sound is the most engaging part of the book, but with only five sounds, this feature won’t hold most youngsters’ attention for long.
A disappointing twist on a popular theme. More gimmick than engaging. (Novelty board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-68010-684-8
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: Dec. 2, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2021
Leave this developmentally inappropriate title on the shelf.
A board book for the toddlers of Lake Wobegon, where all the children are above average.
As with Baby Loves Quarks! (2016) and its series companions, Spiro attempts to explain a topic too complex and abstract for toddlers. The bright-eyed brown-skinned cartoon child on the cover is inviting enough. But it’s hard to imagine the real baby who will be able to follow her example: “Baby takes three steps to the right, three steps forward, and three steps to the left.” The text can tell readers that “This pattern of steps is called an algorithm” when repeated every time the child wants to go to the toy box, but that does not mean babies can understand, much less replicate, the behavior of a computer program. As with many tech-oriented toys designed for gifted tots, a toy train is used to illustrate coding. Later pictures show other machines that rely on unseen computer code to function. There is nothing factually wrong here. And yes, parents and caregivers can follow the book’s example by inserting the language of science and coding in conversation. But 20 pages of oversimplified explanations of theoretical concepts, no matter how attractively packaged, will not translate to understanding until the child is past the concrete-operations stage of development—and even gifted toddlers just aren’t there yet.
Leave this developmentally inappropriate title on the shelf. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: June 5, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-58089-884-3
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: June 10, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
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