A sweet ecosystem introduction for preschoolers, the first of a promising series.
The African savanna, home of a tiny lion cub, is full of intriguing wildlife.
The straightforward text of this appealing picture book follows a tiny lion cub for 24 hours as he plays, practices his hunting, and sleeps in his savanna world. It introduces his surroundings and his family—a pride that includes aunts, cousins, and a father with a “very, very loud” roar. At night, after the exhausted cub goes off to sleep, the lionesses hunt. While the text mentions that lions are meat eaters, and they’re shown stalking zebra, the kill is only suggested, with the bare hint of a zebra hide behind some shrubbery in a nighttime scene. Listeners will be reassured to hear that the cub, for now, “only needs his mother’s milk.” The digitally created illustrations sometimes focus in on the cub and his family and sometimes move back to display scenes in which he’s barely visible among his many unfamiliar neighbors. Day moves smoothly into night and back again. Images and names of most of the animals pictured are repeated on the endpapers. The animals (far more numerous than in reality) have appealing faces and yet remain thoroughly identifiable. Listeners may be lulled to sleep by the gentle story, but they’ll also want to be active participants in the find-that-animal game.
A sweet ecosystem introduction for preschoolers, the first of a promising series. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-909263-56-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Flying Eye Books
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2015
Parents of toddlers starting school or day care should seek separation-anxiety remedies elsewhere, and fans of the original...
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
For toddlers unafraid of typical Halloween imagery.
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)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-58925-611-8
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: Sept. 24, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2014
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