Leave the hopping to Peter Cottontail and sing the original song instead.
An Easter-themed board-book parody of the traditional nursery rhyme.
Unfortunately, this effort is just as sugary and uninspired as The Itsy Bitsy Snowman, offered by the same pair in 2015. A cheerful white bunny hops through a pastel world to distribute candy and treats for Easter but spills his baskets. A hedgehog, fox, mouse, and various birds come to the bunny’s rescue, retrieving the candy, helping to devise a distribution plan, and hiding the eggs. Then magically, they all fly off in a hot air balloon as the little animals in the village emerge to find the treats. Without any apparent purpose, the type changes color to highlight some words. For very young children every word is new, so highlighting “tiny tail” or “friends” makes no sense. Although the text is meant to be sung, the words don't quite fit the rhythm of the original song. Moreover, there are not clear motions to accompany the text; without the fingerplay movements, this book has none of the satisfying verve of the traditional version.
Leave the hopping to Peter Cottontail and sing the original song instead. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-5621-0
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Dinosaur fans will happily engage, but true budding paleontologists will quickly grow out of it
Bright colors and dramatic scenes will attract young dinosaur lovers to this board book with shaped, oversized flaps that hide five popular dinosaurs.
The predictable format lends itself to use with young toddlers. An unnamed dinosaur on the left side of each spread asks a question. When a large flap on the facing page is turned, an extinct creature—there are five in all—is revealed. A sound or behavior one might imagine could be characteristic of that animal is repeated in a larger font. A “happy triceratops” stomps; a “giant diplodocus” munches; a “sleepy stegosaurus” snores; a “flying pterodactyl” squawks; a “mighty Tyrannosaurus rex” (and hatchlings) roars. (Only “Tyrannosaurus” is captitalized, presumably as its moniker includes the full Latin name.) Curiously, the triceratops is described as “happy” with no evidence of that emotion beyond a slight, anthropomorphized smile. If it is happy, why is it stomping? Clever toddlers will quickly learn that the flap in the slightly raised frame on the right-hand page is almost always hinged at the bottom. A second flap opens to the side on the T. rex spread to reveal three baby tyrannosauruses in their eggshells. However, this one is quite difficult to manipulate and easily torn.
Dinosaur fans will happily engage, but true budding paleontologists will quickly grow out of it . (Board book. 2-3)Pub Date: April 3, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-7636-9934-5
Page Count: 10
Publisher: Nosy Crow
Review Posted Online: May 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
While the seed of a good idea is here, it withers and dies by the end (pun intended)
Little ones are encouraged to guess the identity of various animals through pun-filled riddles.
“Who can sing while sitting in a tree? Who can?” So reads the text on the left-side of the first double-page spread. Across the gutter, a telltale bright beak peeks out from a copse of trees, and the page-turn reveals the answer: “TOUCAN.” “Who can?” is asked again to introduce a pelican, and the pattern of riddle and reveal continues with question on recto and answer on the following verso. The next set of animals—pandas and barracudas—answers the question “Who does?” The puns get stretched a little too thin when the riddle reads “Who stirs the wheel in the playground? Who stirs?” and the answer is “HAMSTERS.” While van Kampen’s illustrations are lively enough against white backgrounds and employ warmly saturated colors, the tone of the art is an odd mix of the naturalistic (pandas eating bamboo) and the whimsical (centipedes reading this very book). The project ends with a query directed to readers, asking who can read this riddle book. On the following double-page spread a white toddler sits in an oversized chair reading as all the animals (including fish-out-of-water minnows and a barracuda) from subsequent pages gaze on with admiration.
While the seed of a good idea is here, it withers and dies by the end (pun intended) . (Board book. 2-3)Pub Date: March 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4598-1369-4
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: June 10, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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