Grab this one instead of a multitude of narrowly focused, lesser-quality picture dictionaries for babies.
A large-format board book with 101 photographs of items including animals, vehicles, and body parts.
The book’s approach is straightforward: It contains pages of labeled photographs arranged by category. Some of the images are printed on flaps that encourage readers to identify colors, numbers, shapes, and sounds. For those looking to save shelf space, it condenses what could have been eight books into one. The items themselves are largely familiar to young readers—things found at home, during mealtime, and outdoors—in addition to the usual suspects such as trucks and animals. A cartoon bird, introduced as the guide on the front cover, poses questions to readers on each page: “Which picture shows four?” It’s a nice touch and helps boost interaction. The photographs themselves are clear and brightly colored against solid backgrounds in neatly aligned blocks. While the design makes the pages appear busy, it’s not completely overwhelming. Aside from the adorable Asian baby on the cover, the very last spread is the only one with photographs of people, and it includes both a white baby with Down syndrome and a couple babies of color. Overall, no gimmicks, nothing overdone—it succeeds in its purpose.
Grab this one instead of a multitude of narrowly focused, lesser-quality picture dictionaries for babies. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-68437-660-5
Page Count: 14
Publisher: Highlights Learning
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2019
The art and writing can stand on their own while the gimmick will likely distract anyone reading aloud even as it delights...
A cow named Cuddly searches for a quiet place to hit the hay in this book with barnyard sounds supplied in an embedded sound chip.
From the cover, toddlers can push a big green button (which doubles as a speaker) to activate the chip, which features a loud moo with other animal sounds in the background; die-cut circles in the lower corner of the cover and subsequent pages ensure its accessibility throughout. Cuddly tries to bunk with the hens, a horse, and the pigs to no avail. She has a brainstorm and counts the sheep in a field and quickly falls asleep. Scheffler, of The Gruffalo fame, uses richly colored gouache to paint scenes with friendly, wide-eyed farm residents against pastoral backgrounds. Young readers may be confused to see a very bright sky in this tale set at twilight. Each one-page scene is paired with a nicely scanning quatrain set in a large font against a brightly colored background on the opposite page. In the companion title, titular Higgly Hen loses her eggs as they hatch, legs first, and then walk away. In slapstick fashion, she chases the walking eggs around the farm until she finds them all in time for them to complete their emergence. This offering sports a large yellow button that clucks realistically when pressed. The battery can be replaced by opening a panel (with a tiny Phillips screwdriver) in the back of the book, but caregivers may choose to let the noisemaker die a natural death.
The art and writing can stand on their own while the gimmick will likely distract anyone reading aloud even as it delights little ears and fingers. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: April 25, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7636-9325-1
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Nosy Crow
Review Posted Online: May 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Appealingly playful.
Little Mouse introduces little ones to various opposites in this lift-the-flap offering.
On the left-hand page, the cartoon mouse sets up the scene with a simple query and image: “What time is it, Little Mouse?” On the recto, the blocky text, accompanied by an image of the sun shining on the outside of the flap, reads: “It is daytime. The opposite of daytime is….” Inside the flap, with a star-spangled dark-blue night sky, is the answer: “night-time!” This pattern repeats for a total of eight opposite pairs, such as small and big, up and down, happy and sad, etc. The companion title, Counting Things, utilizes the same russet mouse for an enumeration of various items (tigers, chickens, cars, and such) up to 10. Oddly, the words for each number are written out rather than showing the more recognizable numerals. The opening of the flap cleverly adds one more to the objects being counted. Kövecses’ graphically appealing art uses stripped-down shapes in muted blocks of color to construct toddler-friendly images. The flaps are relatively sturdy with nicely rounded corners.
Appealingly playful. (Board book. 18 mos.-3)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-78603-038-2
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Wide Eyed Editions
Review Posted Online: Sept. 17, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2018
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