An appealing book that marries search-and-find with touch-and-feel for the littlest readers.
A little mouse goes in search of its friend.
There are evidently many badgers in the forest, but this little mouse is looking for a particular one with a soft and fluffy body. As the mouse travels, it finds a badger with too-rough paws, another with too-hairy ears, and a few others that aren’t quite right. The various textures in this touch-and-feel board book will delight little readers, though they may be puzzled at the conceit, which asks them to differentiate among several mostly identical animals. The exercise in individuation, if successful, is a valuable and subtle one. The illustrations are suitably baby-friendly, with deep colors and simple, bold lines. Another touch-and-feel title, That’s Not My Elf, publishes simultaneously and sends the same white mouse through Santa’s workshop looking for its elf friend; the elves are better-distinguished from one another than the badgers, though, with the exception of one with light-brown skin, they are all white. Both books are bound in faux hardcover style, making for handsome additions to a little reader’s bookshelf. The pages are easy to manage, and the textures are both easy to spot and well-integrated in the pages, making this ideal for little ones just starting to hold their own books.
An appealing book that marries search-and-find with touch-and-feel for the littlest readers. (Board book. 6-12 mos.)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7945-3808-8
Page Count: 10
Publisher: Usborne
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A joyful celebration.
Families in a variety of configurations play, dance, and celebrate together.
The rhymed verse, based on a song from the Noodle Loaf children’s podcast, declares that “Families belong / Together like a puzzle / Different-sized people / One big snuggle.” The accompanying image shows an interracial couple of caregivers (one with brown skin and one pale) cuddling with a pajama-clad toddler with light brown skin and surrounded by two cats and a dog. Subsequent pages show a wide array of families with members of many different racial presentations engaging in bike and bus rides, indoor dance parties, and more. In some, readers see only one caregiver: a father or a grandparent, perhaps. One same-sex couple with two children in tow are expecting another child. Smart’s illustrations are playful and expressive, curating the most joyful moments of family life. The verse, punctuated by the word together, frequently set in oversized font, is gently inclusive at its best but may trip up readers with its irregular rhythms. The song that inspired the book can be found on the Noodle Loaf website.
A joyful celebration. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-22276-8
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Rise x Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
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