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QUACK!

Name: QUACK!
Author: Joe Fitzpatrick
ISBN: 978-1-486713-85-1

by Joe Fitzpatrick ; illustrated by Paul Nicholls ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 13, 2018

Repeated quacks and a fair bit of waddling are guaranteed to quack up toddlers.

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If it quacks like a duck…it’s just fun.

Digitally designed caricatures of 10 animals populate the 20 pages of this simple adventure that also functions as a counting book. Oversized 9-inch-square pages provide room for an ever growing cast of animal characters who don’t understand duck language. On the inside cover, the duck meets “ONE very BIG [and purple] elephant” and then two giraffes, three horses, four pigs, five monkeys, six flamingos, seven grasshoppers, eight spiders, and nine bluebirds. To each it says, “Quack!” and when it’s not understood, “the duck just kept waddling….” The text is somewhat longer than in most board books, but the repeated sentence structure keeps it accessible. Number words and names of critters are in a larger font, which helps young children focus on this key information. Each animal busily does what that animal is best known for (eating leaves, grazing, rolling in mud, etc.). As a clever nod to a traditional counting song, the monkeys are jumping on the bed. On the next spread, the duck sees the flamingos standing on one leg and “wondered what the other leg was for.” This joke will amuse adults but goes right past young children. However, they will want to pause on each spread to count the animals and “Quack!” with the duck. When at last the duck sees 10 other ducks, the volley of reply quacks invites readers to join in.

Repeated quacks and a fair bit of waddling are guaranteed to quack up toddlers. (Board book. 2-4)

Pub Date: March 13, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-486713-85-1

Page Count: 20

Publisher: Flowerpot Press

Review Posted Online: May 13, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

- BOOK REVIEW
STAR LIGHT, STAR BRIGHT, EVEN DINOSAURS SAY GOOD NIGHT
by Joe Fitzpatrick ; illustrated by John Joseph

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A KISSING HAND FOR CHESTER RACCOON

From the Kissing Hand series

by Audrey Penn ; illustrated by Barbara L. Gibson ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2014

Parents of toddlers starting school or day care should seek separation-anxiety remedies elsewhere, and fans of the original...

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A sweetened, condensed version of the best-selling picture book, The Kissing Hand.

As in the original, Chester Raccoon is nervous about attending Owl’s night school (raccoons are nocturnal). His mom kisses him on the paw and reminds him, “With a Kissing Hand… / We’ll never be apart.” The text boils the story down to its key elements, causing this version to feel rushed. Gone is the list of fun things Chester will get to do at school. Fans of the original may be disappointed that this board edition uses a different illustrator. Gibson’s work is equally sentimental, but her renderings are stiff and flat in comparison to the watercolors of Harper and Leak. Very young readers will probably not understand that Owl’s tree, filled with opossums, a squirrel, a chipmunk and others, is supposed to be a school.

Parents of toddlers starting school or day care should seek separation-anxiety remedies elsewhere, and fans of the original shouldn’t look to this version as replacement for their page-worn copies. (Board book. 2-4)

Pub Date: April 1, 2014

ISBN: 978-1-933718-77-4

Page Count: 14

Publisher: Tanglewood Publishing

Review Posted Online: May 18, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2014

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
CHESTER RACCOON AND THE ALMOST PERFECT SLEEPOVER
by Audrey Penn ; illustrated by Barbara L. Gibson

- BOOK REVIEW
KAI TO THE RESCUE!
by Audrey Penn ; illustrated by Mike Yamada

- BOOK REVIEW
A COLOR GAME FOR CHESTER RACCOON
by Audrey Penn & illustrated by Barbara L. Gibson

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FIVE BLACK CATS

by Patricia Hegarty ; illustrated by Julia Woolf ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2013

For toddlers unafraid of typical Halloween imagery.

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A troop of cats traverse a spooky landscape as they make their way to a party hosted by ghosts.

Each double-page spread shows the felines’ encounters with the likes of an owl, jack-o’-lanterns or a bat. One or two of these creepy meetings may be too abstract for the youngest readers, as the cats hear eerie noises with no discernible source on the page. The text, which consists of one rhyming couplet per scene, mostly scans despite a couple of wobbles: “Five black cats get a bit of a scare / As the flip-flapping wings of a bat fill the air.” The sleek, slightly retro art, likely created using a computer, depicts the cats cavorting at night through a shadowy cityscape, the countryside and a haunted house; they may scare some toddlers and delight others. A brighter color palette would have given the project a friendlier, more universal appeal. Luckily, the well-lit, final party scene provides a playful conclusion.

For toddlers unafraid of typical Halloween imagery. (Board book. 2-4)