Better bedtime books abound
A bedtime book set to music.
Laiz and Vernon’s text, set to music composed by Vernon and presented on an accompanying CD, loses some of its lullaby flavor without the audio addition. This occurs due to design choices that break the text up awkwardly, interrupting cadence and shifting rhyme schemes. Meanwhile, illustrations alternate between interior scenes of a white, human family settling in for the night and outdoor scenes of various animals going to sleep. Curiously, even nocturnal or crepuscular animals such as raccoons, owls, bats, and red foxes are depicted hunkering down—almost always with smiles on their faces. The rather stiff illustrations also add many animals unmentioned by the text, including a panda and a giraffe on the cover that feel very out of place in the book’s apparent North American woodland setting. The cover art also tucks those animals and others under the titular blanket of stars, but inside the book this blanket belongs to a child and animals aren’t anthropomorphized to such a degree. The result seems like a mismatch between design and interior art. Perhaps a bigger misstep is the decision to include bedtime poems by Robert Louis Stevenson, Christina Rossetti, Thomas Dekker, and then another by Vernon as backmatter. The first three underscore the failings of the main text, while the inclusion of the last seems indulgent, at best.
Better bedtime books abound . (Picture book. 1-4)Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-981-4910-7-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Crow Flies Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2018
An effervescent celebration of play in the early years.
As with Spanyol’s stellar Clive books, Rosa’s favorite activities buck gender stereotypes.
The toddler races toy cars, jumps monster trucks, and builds a car out of a cardboard box with her buddies in what looks like a day care or preschool setting. Spanyol’s childlike lines, soft palette, and chunky figures are as cheerful as ever. The text is mostly straightforward, simple narration peppered with exclamations from Rosa and her chums: “Rosa and Marcel play in the sandpit. ‘Dig-a-dig, dig-a-dig, scoop!’ sings Rosa.” Rosa has brown skin and black, curly hair, and she wears bright yellow eyeglasses. Her friends include Samira, who uses a wheelchair and is likely of South Asian descent; Mustafa, who appears black; Biba, who has light-brown skin and straight, black hair; and Sarah and Marcel, who both present white. Three other equally charming titles accompany this offering. In Rosa and Her Dinosaurs, the heroine dons a purple dress and plays with a collection of toy dinosaurs. Rosa and her buds (all wearing helmets) roll through the pages of Rosa Rides Her Scooter. And in Rosa Plays Ball, Rosa pushes a cart with various kinds of balls to toss about with her friends outside.
An effervescent celebration of play in the early years. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-78628-125-8
Page Count: 14
Publisher: Child's Play
Review Posted Online: Dec. 4, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2019
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A fun but inessential novelty, as much toy as book.
A familiar song repackaged as a board book doubles as a finger puppet.
Many a caregiver has sung this refrain to a newborn or toddler, ignoring the decidedly sad lyrics of the original. Magsamen lays claim and sweetens it up. She uses only the chorus and changes the last line to “I’ll give you lots of hugs… / and kisses every day” instead of the expected “Please don’t take my sunshine away.” Her cheery artwork, reminiscent of applique, recalls the song’s country-music roots and is anything but sad. The pages are decorated with hearts and cuddly-looking caregiver-child animal pairs—foxes, skunks with sunny yellow umbrellas, bunnies, raccoons, and squirrels. The thick, heart-shaped pages include a circular die-cut hole through which readers might poke the smiling felt sun puppet attached to the back cover. A finger inserted from the back makes the sun wiggle and will capture even the youngest baby’s attention. The puppet feature does not obstruct the initial page turns, but when a toddler says, “Do it again” (as they doubtless will), quickly re-positioning the finger puppet is somewhat challenging.
A fun but inessential novelty, as much toy as book. (Board book. 18 mos.-3)Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-338-30576-0
Page Count: 6
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Nov. 11, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2019
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