Whether readers are zoologists in the making or just fans of our animal friends, this book and its companion are sure to...
Arresting design, simple and useful content, and animal parents and babies: What’s not to like?
Together with Farm, its simultaneously publishing companion in the Animal Families series, this book is exquisite. The eye-popping neon colors and uncluttered, expressive, screen-printed artwork alone make both books worth the price of admission, but the entire presentation hits all the right notes. Each two-page spread is devoted to a species of animal. The “daddy,” with proper nomenclature, appears on verso, “mommy,” with her appropriate term, on recto. The flap upon which “mommy” appears opens, revealing their young along with the proper term for babies of that species: “A daddy peafowl is called a peacock. / A mommy peafowl is called a peahen. Baby peafowl are called… / peachicks!” Each book features four species; the final spread has flaps on both sides that open up to reveal the four animal families depicted and the collective terms for families of each species: in the case of the jungle dwellers, a “memory” of elephants, an “embarrassment” of pandas, a “pride” of peafowl, and an "ambush" of tigers, for example. Farm features sheep, donkeys, chickens, and pigs. Kids will learn to tell jacks from jennys, rams from ewes, and foals from lambs, chicks, and piglets. Opening the flaps adds yet another level of interest for curious—and grabby—tots.
Whether readers are zoologists in the making or just fans of our animal friends, this book and its companion are sure to please. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0831-3
Page Count: 14
Publisher: Nosy Crow
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Don’t judge this book by its cover; there’s an unusual concept and whimsical illustrations hiding underneath
A series of solid shapes substitute for natural objects in this board book that is somewhere between concept book and riddle game.
What’s that shape supposed to be? Running across a rust-brown labeled triangle, amid trees and elk, the text “Climb a TRIANGLE to the top” suggests the shape is a mountain; in an ocean scene with a red “STAR washed in on the waves,” the shape implies a sea star. Ample visual cues give young readers enough context to guess what the shape evokes, with some unexpected touches, such as “HEXAGON” printed on hexagonal honeycombs buzzing with bees and surrounded by golden flowers. Short, commanding sentences keep things humming, but with only six shapes covered, the book feels all too brief. Illustrator Devernay combines delicate pencil line drawings and sketchy gray-black shading with tiny, meticulously cut colored-paper collage to create her plants and animals. The most intimate drawings amaze. Close-ups of smooth stones are so appealing that readers will long to pick one up and “rub a smooth OVAL between thumb and finger.” Sadly, the cover doesn’t do the interior justice, and things get murky when several hues mix there and on the final spread. But on other spreads, where there’s a single color, it pops against the gray, such as the minute yellow beaks on the flock of charcoal birds circling the yellow “CIRCLE” sun.
Don’t judge this book by its cover; there’s an unusual concept and whimsical illustrations hiding underneath . (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: March 13, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-56846-317-9
Page Count: 14
Publisher: Creative Editions/Creative Company
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
BLOG
A fun, new take on droppings.
Youngsters can learn about where and how various animals, domestic and wild, relieve themselves.
Via a pull-tab embedded in each recto (not, thankfully, in the rectum) readers can see the before and after, and a goldfish in a bowl leaves a trail while swimming. The verso asks each creature where it does its business, and then a (sometimes-forced) rhyming quatrain, translated from Italian, answers the question: “And where do YOU poop, mouse? / When inside my tummy / Starts to feel not so good / It’s time for a poop / On these chips made of wood!” The final double-page spread queries readers: “And where do YOU poop?” A redheaded, White toddler’s face is visible below this question; the pull-tab on the right opens a bathroom to reveal a White toddler, this time with medium brown hair, happily and modestly sitting on a blue toddler potty. The accompanying quatrain provides some developmentally appropriate guidance for feeling the signs of a movement coming on. Baruzzi’s art is droll and graphically clean (inasmuch as the depiction of excrement can be described that way). Little fingers may need some help finding the relatively easy-to-open and sturdy pull-tabs, since they blend into each page. It works as both a biology lesson and potty-training encouragement.
A fun, new take on droppings. (Novelty board book. 18 mos.-3)Pub Date: May 11, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-66265-042-0
Page Count: 16
Publisher: minedition
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2021
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