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FOREST FRIENDS

Name: FOREST FRIENDS
Author: Curt Hart
ISBN: 978-1-4867-2405-5

by Curt Hart photographed by Curt Hart ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 18, 2022

Eye-catching and informative.

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Up-close with five different North American forest animals.

This board book spotlights bald eagles, rabbits, white-tailed deer, bullfrogs, and eastern screech owls. Each animal is accompanied by close-up photographs and a related and not-too-obvious fact. “Eastern screech owls avoid predators by stretching their bodies and swaying back and forth like a tree branch.” It’s possible that even adults sharing the book with children might learn something new. The stunning photographs put the animals on full display; the bullfrog’s eye is presented in great detail, down to the ring around its pupil, and readers can even make out the veins in the rabbit’s ears. This makes for a lot of visual interest without being overly busy. Overall, the concise information and images are toddler-friendly, though some of the factoids assume knowledge of topics such as hibernation and predators. Animal books with photos are common board-book fodder, but this one, refreshingly, isn’t merely an alphabetical listing or a simple series of named images. While there isn’t anything groundbreaking here, budding zoologists will appreciate the facts coupled with the photography and a chance to observe animals that are usually seen at a distance. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Eye-catching and informative. (Board book. 2-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022

ISBN: 978-1-4867-2405-5

Page Count: 20

Publisher: Flowerpot Press

Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

- BOOK REVIEW
BIRDS
by Shirley Raines ; photographed by Curt Hart

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THE MARINE TEAM

by Jason Hook ; illustrated by Madeleine Rogers ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2018

A serviceable exploration of the animal kingdom.

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Little ones learn about sea life.

Animals found under the sea are the focus of this board book. An abcb rhyme scheme is employed to tell little readers about sea turtles, great white sharks (which smile benevolently if toothily), seals, blue whales, and sea horses. Each animal is discussed in two double-page spreads that offer basic facts: sea turtles lay their eggs on beaches; great whites are white only on their bellies; blue whales eat “tiny creatures.” Some facts are impenetrable and even inaccurate: of the seal, the text claims a “deep-sea diving suit of blubber keeps this swimmer dry”; the blue whale is as “big as any jumbo jet.” The illustrations feature smiling animals colored with deep hues that evoke the depths of their environment. The final page of the board book boasts further facts about each creature featured. Similar titles Forest Folk and Sky Guys are concurrently published, introducing little readers to forest critters and winged beasts respectively, using the same abcb format and design. While the graphics in each are appealing, the texts leave much to be desired.

A serviceable exploration of the animal kingdom. (Board book. 2-3)

Pub Date: March 1, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-908985-86-6

Page Count: 24

Publisher: Button Books

Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

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ANIMALS

From the Matching Game series

by Stéphanie Babin ; illustrated by Julie Mercier ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2018

While it suffers from redundancy of form, the gamelike structure makes this book a nifty choice for engaging young readers...

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In this game-based book, readers play matching and look-and-find games featuring animals in various habitats.

This book version of the traditional matching game involving playing cards invites readers to find animal pairs, play I Spy, and seek-and-find. Every two-page spread features animals that live in the same habitat: forest, savanna, ocean, polar ice, and field. The left side of each layout features Mercier’s cartoon-cute illustrations of the animals, while the right side shows some of those same animals hidden behind sliding squares. These squares are an unusual inclusion in a board book and provide great motor-skill practice for little readers. Each habitat includes four activity prompts. While “Find a Pair” and “Look and Find” are nearly identical throughout, “Time to Hide” and “I Spy” are tailored to the specific featured animals. The “I Spy” questions do engage readers’ thinking around such concepts as aboveground/underground and colors; however, as a set, the prompts are formulaic and predictable. On the up side, featured animals include the familiar (elephant, squirrel, butterfly) alongside those that may be new to readers (musk ox, moray eel, pangolin), and the structure of the book allows readers to explore and utilize it in ways beyond the obvious.

While it suffers from redundancy of form, the gamelike structure makes this book a nifty choice for engaging young readers during travel or at a restaurant. (Board book. 2-4)