Little hands will enjoy holding this small, chunky book; adult readers can supply their own text.
This diminutive board book presents the delights to be found at a fair.
Tiny in both size and number of pages—just five double-page spreads—this will fit wee hands easily and will be easy to manipulate. The thick die-cut pages stack from smallest to largest, each page die cut to resemble the object it represents: a merry-go-round on recto and popcorn truck on its verso; an old fashioned train; a roller coaster; bumper cars; swings; assorted carnival games, and finally a Ferris wheel. While the saturated colors of the illustrations and the tactile book format will be appealing to the littlest readers, the limited, unattributed text is uninspired and flat: “Welcome to the fun fair! / Where the roller coaster goes up then down. / The bumper cars spin and zoom. / The swings swish and twirl. / And the Ferris wheel goes round and round. There’s so much fun to be had at the fair!” It’s a pity the text can’t rise to the level of excitement it promises fairgoers. The colorful and stylized illustrations portray a large number of people—equally divided between bright-pink and brown skin tones.
Little hands will enjoy holding this small, chunky book; adult readers can supply their own text. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: March 10, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4521-7493-8
Page Count: 10
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
This will have readers putting on their dancing shoes to do the “cha cha cha” with their dino-babies
It's not the first time dinosaurs have been featured in a clever Boynton board book. It seems she—and we—can't get enough.
As her fans know, Boynton has a sly wit that respects the intelligence of her young fans and amuses the adults asked to “read it again.” In this book she introduces nine dinosaurs, each of which dances in a way that seems totally appropriate for that particular species. “The blue Stegosaurus goes SHIMMY SHIMMY SHAKE. / The red Brontosaurus goes QUIVERY QUAKE.” Drawing on her experience as a children’s musician, she writes a text that trips along like a song with rhymes that make sense but don't intrude. The illustrations, typical Boynton, reflect her greeting-card background. They are cartoonish but manage to capture the unique personality of each creature. The unnamed dinosaur narrator looks genuinely distraught at not being able to name the “tiny little dino” that “goes DEEDLY DEE.” Spoiler alert: the tiny little dinosaur is probably Compsognathus and would be about the size of a small chicken. Young dinophiles would be impressed if the dinosaurologists in their lives could supply that factoid, but alas, they will have to look it up.
This will have readers putting on their dancing shoes to do the “cha cha cha” with their dino-babies . (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-8099-4
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Take it, or leave it.
A wintertime story that can be sung to the tune of “The Itsy Bitsy Spider.”
The itsy bitsy snowman and his friends are playing in the snow. They climb up a snowy hill, jump on a sled, slide fast, and zip past children skating on ice. Then, though the text tells readers that he “dodged a snowball fight,” his head becomes separated from his body. Not to worry, “out came his friends / to lend a happy hand.” In the last spread the itsy bitsy snowman stands with his mom, dad, and friends, “And everything was perfect / in his winter wonderland.” The story, intended to be read to the tune of the beloved nursery rhyme, doesn’t always quite fit the template, as in: “The itsy bitsy snowman / climbed up the snowy hill. // He jumped on a sled / and slid fast…what a thrill!” For no obvious reason, on every page one word is printed in a different color from the rest of the text. Rescek’s illustrations are bright, cheery, and cartoonlike, with an appropriate wintry pale blue as the dominant color. Though sweet and cute, there is nothing particularly fresh or new here.
Take it, or leave it. (Board book. 1-2)Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4814-4837-6
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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