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PUPPY TALK

Name: PUPPY TALK
Author: J.C. Coates
ISBN: 978-1-58089-847-8

OPPOSITES

by J.C. Coates ; illustrated by J.C. Coates ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 15, 2019

Silly and instructive; an animal lover’s delight.

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Playful puppies with big personalities illustrate pairs of opposites.

Professional photographer and author Coates presents a cast of cuddly, exuberant puppies who model a variety of useful pairs of opposite terms. “Front” and “back,” “far” and “near,” “awake” and “asleep,” and six other pairs of vocabulary words come to life in these charming and funny photos. Amusing comments from the four-legged models add an element of laughter and a hint of chaos, as well. A tiny picture of a Boston terrier, set back in the upper-left corner on an otherwise white page, accompanies the text “Max is far,” as Max calls out from the distance, “Hello-o-o!” On the facing page, “Max is near,” and a close-up of the dog’s face fills the page; Max says, in alarm, “Whoa! TOO close!” Sophie, an adorable Portuguese water dog, is “dry” on one page, remarking, “I need a bath.” The facing page reads, “Sophie is wet,” and the damp and annoyed-looking pup is wrapped in a towel, saying, “I need a hug.” All the dogs are photographed in color and presented on a plain white background, which makes the ideas presented in each photo impossible to miss. Featured vocabulary is printed in colored type. The front and back covers also feature Max, face-first or backside-first respectively, announcing “This is the front!” and “This is the back!”

Silly and instructive; an animal lover’s delight. (Board book. 1-4)

Pub Date: Jan. 15, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-58089-847-8

Page Count: 20

Publisher: Charlesbridge

Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS

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SHAPES ALL AROUND

by Kate Riggs ; illustrated by Laetitia Devernay ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 13, 2018

Don’t judge this book by its cover; there’s an unusual concept and whimsical illustrations hiding underneath

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

- BOOK REVIEW
IN THE GARDEN
by Kate Riggs ; illustrated by Monique Felix

- BOOK REVIEW
SOUNDS OF THE FOREST
by Kate Riggs ; illustrated by Fiammetta Dogi

- BOOK REVIEW
BEYOND THE STARS
by Kate Riggs ; illustrated by Chris Sheban

- BLOG
Board Book Beauties

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WHERE DO YOU POOP?

by Agnese Baruzzi ; illustrated by Agnese Baruzzi ; translated by Maria Russo ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 11, 2021

A fun, new take on droppings.

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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)