Corey’s workhorse of a text has been addressing separation anxiety for almost 35 years, first illustrated by Lois Axeman in 1976 and then by Diane Paterson in 1999. Now it has been re-illustrated again and packaged in board-book format. In Fox’s bright, cheery illustrations, a bevy of children of varying ethnicities watch their adults go away and come back while experimenting a little bit on their own. While it is certain that very young babies can begin to grasp object permanence, whether this book is the best way to reinforce it is another question. Will even young toddlers be able to decode the actions and emotions depicted in static images, however effectively illustrated? It’s still an important book, but best used with older toddlers, not babies, as the format seems to imply. (Board book. 2-3)
Pub Date: March 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-8075-9440-7
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
An ingenious interactive book allows readers to decide for the characters what they love—and what they detest. “Does Tanek like milk? / … / Is Shen going to chew the carrot?” Strung within a die-cut hole, a face of perfect Peanuts roundness is suspended, one side beaming, the other glumly frowning. With each question, readers can reach out and spin the face to answer it accordingly. The book’s audience is at an age when adults constantly seek to con them—“Of course you like eggplant!”—so this opportunity for readers to take the emotional driver’s seat is downright liberating. Children’s names and skin colors allow for a broad ethnic representation in this and the three companion volumes: Teddy or Train? (ISBN: 978-1-84643-241-5), Bath or Bed? (ISBN: 978-1-84643-239-2) and Wind or Rain? (ISBN: 978-1-84643-240-8). (Ages 6-18 mos.)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-84643-242-2
Page Count: 10
Publisher: Child's Play
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Cool pastels and sleek, highly graphic lines give visual heft to this brief, tactile tour of the farm. The sheep on the cover sports fuzzy fleece, the barn is made of vertically oriented brown corrugated “wood,” the pig features a patch of touch-it-again moleskin, the tractor is equipped with a marvelously rubbery-feeling tire, the hens walk across a corkboard-like yard and the cow’s brown spot is a soft terrycloth. If the touch-and-feel elements are superior to many of their ilk, however, the text is not, achieving rhyme but not much meaning: “Feel the GROUND. / Hens run around. // Touch the COW. / Do it now.” This flaw, combined with the low-contrast palette, makes this one a miss. A companion, Count (ISBN: 978-1-934706-75-6), shares this book’s visual sensibility, but not its tactile aspect. (Ages 6-18 mos.)
Pub Date: Nov. 9, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-934706-74-9
Page Count: 10
Publisher: Blue Apple
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2009
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