There is no question that the book is an attractive novelty, but, as with others in its series, it will serve its audience...
The Dickens classic, reduced to 12 words and illustrated with felt dolls.
Readers familiar with the Wangs’ Cozy Classics will be unsurprised by their treatment of the weighty 19th-century tome. The action plays out in tableaux, one word per double-page spread: “boy / help / old / pretty / cry / money / city / manners / me! / sorry / fire / garden.” Some illustrations work better than others. “Old” Miss Havisham sports white hair and fairly credible wrinkles in her wedding gown, and green-eyed, creamy-skinned Estella is arguably “pretty.” But the tableau for “help,” in which Pip meets Magwitch in the graveyard, depicts a looming, shackled, bleeding man in rags and a boy holding a pie in one hand and evidently brandishing a knife in the other; readers will wonder why the word is not “fight” or “fright.” As a grown Pip contemplates “money,” he is shown at a table with two sacks bearing the symbol for the pound sterling. Though appropriate to the setting and the original work, it is also likely to be a mystifying image for American children, who will see no money at all. Pip unfolds a napkin before a grand repast, but the word it illustrates is not “repast,” “feast,” “dinner,” or even “food”; it is “manners.” The backdrops for the tableaux are sumptuous, and the attention to detail is admirable. But as a conveyance for meaning, this book is a flimsy one—and as a redaction of Great Expectations, it is ludicrous.
There is no question that the book is an attractive novelty, but, as with others in its series, it will serve its audience better as a teething toy than a gateway to literacy . (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: March 8, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4521-5243-1
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Not a great choice for the youngest dinosaur lovers.
A board-book ode to parental love as old as the dinosaurs.
A line of text on the left of each spread reads like a dinosaur-themed valentine that a third grader might choose, with punishingly punny wordplay that incorporates dinosaur-related words. On the facing page a dinosaur pair—a baby and an adult—gaze lovingly into each other’s eyes against whimsical, pastel-hued prehistoric-ish backgrounds. In smaller print, in all caps, at the bottom of the left page is the scientific name for the dinosaur referenced by the text and picture followed by a helpful phonetic pronunciation guide. White-outlined footprints appear next to their names, though the white is sometimes difficult to see against the pastel pages. Ten of the best-known dinosaurs are included. Twisting the dinosaur names to fit the loving sentiments succeeds some of the time but more often results in tortured text, well beyond the understanding of the board book audience. The line accompanying two hugging velociraptors, for instance, is just confusing: “Wrap-TOR arms around me, / with you I’ll always stay.” Others are just plain clumsy: “I-wanna-GUANODON you kisses, / I truly just adore you.” Very young children, even those fascinated by dinosaurs, will not get it. Older dinosaur fans will be put off by the babyish format.
Not a great choice for the youngest dinosaur lovers. (Board book. 18 mos.-3)Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7282-2295-0
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An upbeat early book on feelings with a simple storyline that little ones will respond to.
This simplified version of Diesen and Hanna’s The Pout-Pout Fish (2008) is appropriate for babies and toddlers.
Brief, rhyming text tells the story of a sullen fish cheered up with a kiss. A little pink sea creature pokes his head out of a hole in the sea bottom to give the gloomy fish some advice: “Smile, Mr. Fish! / You look so down // With your glum-glum face / And your pout-pout frown.” He explains that there’s no reason to be worried, scared, sad or mad and concludes: “How about a smooch? / And a cheer-up wish? // Now you look happy: / What a smile, Mr. Fish!” Simple and sweet, this tale offers the lesson that sometimes, all that’s needed for a turnaround in mood is some cheer and encouragement to change our perspective. The clean, uncluttered illustrations are kept simple, except for the pout-pout fish’s features, which are delightfully expressive. Little ones will easily recognize and likely try to copy the sad, scared and angry looks that cross the fish’s face.
An upbeat early book on feelings with a simple storyline that little ones will respond to. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-374-37084-8
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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