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
Sheer joy.
This book and its companions explore the joys of performance art, toddler style.
Featuring a multiethnic group of toddlers as well as some toddlers wearing glasses and one who uses a wheelchair, the book celebrates the sheer exhilaration of imagination during toddlerhood. The colorful mixed-media illustrations place the children against a white background, giving them center stage. The accompanying text exudes the same playfulness and vitality as the drawings, begging to be read aloud and always ending with an enthusiastic “I’m amazing!” Performing on all kinds of improvised instruments from pots to bottles filled with rattly things, the children have a blast: “I’ve got a drum, as round as my tum. / BANG! BA-da-BOOM! BA-da-BOOM, Bang…BUM!” In companion title Dance! “Hands go CLAP! / Feet go TAP!” Young readers will be moved to do the same. In Dressing Up! the children explore a box filled with wondrous objects ready to become anything a toddler can imagine, the onomatopoeic text giving clues to their creations. And proving that singing can be done anywhere, in Sing! children sing while swinging, sitting on the potty, or splashing in the bathtub. “Sing loud, out LOUD! / Sing LOUDER! / I’m amazing!” Pair these with Annie Kubler’s Nursery Time board books.
Sheer joy. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: May 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-84643-961-2
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Child's Play
Review Posted Online: May 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
A welcome addition to the toddler bookshelf.
Leo is back (Leo Loves Baby Time, 2014, etc.), and now he happily attends a community swim class with Daddy.
“Leo loves the water. He is like a little fish!” A smiling Leo is in sudsy bath water, his dark, curly head and brown body held up by a pair of strong, brown, adult arms. As the story continues, readers see Leo and Daddy interact lovingly throughout, from sitting together on a big chair—viewing a swim-class brochure—to changing into proper swim attire in the locker room and taking part in a class that features a pool full of other happy baby-and-adult pairs. The range of skin and hair types is commendable, even including one adult-child combination of nonmatching skin. Getting used to the off-center noses of the babies requires a little time—probably more for adults than children. The text has some sentences that will sound delightful to little ears as little eyes view the water babies: “They swish and swoosh. They splish and sploosh.” The tender and competent care given to Leo by his father is reason enough to praise this book. Also, like its predecessor, the codex itself has rounded corners and strong, resilient paper to accommodate its audience. The ending is a bit abrupt, but it parallels babies’ and toddlers’ tendencies to play hard and suddenly run out of energy.
A welcome addition to the toddler bookshelf. (Picture book. 1-3)Pub Date: May 10, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-58089-725-9
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2016
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