A cheery, interactive offering that serves tots well by bringing a selection of interesting sensations right to their eager...
This rhyming, tactile title introduces little ones to life on a farm.
Short, rhyming verses highlight standard elements of farm life, such as a galloping horse, hatching chicks, a round pumpkin, a crowing rooster, a scarecrow, a snoozing cat, and more. Crisp, photographic images appear against white or brightly colored backgrounds, and each double-page spread incorporates some sort of textured area for little ones to engage their senses of touch. Some of the tactile sections are very obvious, such as the soft down on one of the fluffy chicks or the sheep’s fleece, while others are more difficult to detect, like the slightly bumpy tractor tires and goat’s horns. Textures include everything from the standard—furry, wooly, silky, and bumpy—to the unusual, such as a sticky bit of honey. The tactile areas convey what each item might feel like in the real world, with the notable exception of the drops of water and the stars, which do a better job conveying the appearances of these items—shiny!—than their actual textures.
A cheery, interactive offering that serves tots well by bringing a selection of interesting sensations right to their eager little fingertips. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: March 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-58925-559-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2015
An excellent, rounded effort from a creator who knows how to deliver.
The farmyard's chickens experience Halloween.
A round, full moon shines in the sky, and the chickens of Boynton's barnyard are feeling “nervous.” Pumpkins shine “with flickering eyes,” witches and wizards wander the pastures, and one chicken has seen “a mouse of enormous size.” It’s Halloween night, and readers will delight as the chickens huddle together and try to figure out what's going on. All ends well, of course, and in Boynton's trademark silly style. (It’s really quite remarkable how her ranks of white, yellow-beaked chickens evoke rows of candy corn.) At this point parents and children know what they're in for when they pick up a book by the prolific author, and she doesn't disappoint here. The chickens are silly, the pigs are cute, and the coloring and illustrations evoke a warmth that little ones wary of Halloween will appreciate. For children leery of the ghouls and goblins lurking in the holiday's iconography, this is a perfect antidote, emphasizing all the fun Halloween has to offer.
An excellent, rounded effort from a creator who knows how to deliver. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Aug. 23, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7611-9300-5
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Workman
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
An upbeat early book on feelings with a simple storyline that little ones will respond to.
This simplified version of Diesen and Hanna’s The Pout-Pout Fish (2008) is appropriate for babies and toddlers.
Brief, rhyming text tells the story of a sullen fish cheered up with a kiss. A little pink sea creature pokes his head out of a hole in the sea bottom to give the gloomy fish some advice: “Smile, Mr. Fish! / You look so down // With your glum-glum face / And your pout-pout frown.” He explains that there’s no reason to be worried, scared, sad or mad and concludes: “How about a smooch? / And a cheer-up wish? // Now you look happy: / What a smile, Mr. Fish!” Simple and sweet, this tale offers the lesson that sometimes, all that’s needed for a turnaround in mood is some cheer and encouragement to change our perspective. The clean, uncluttered illustrations are kept simple, except for the pout-pout fish’s features, which are delightfully expressive. Little ones will easily recognize and likely try to copy the sad, scared and angry looks that cross the fish’s face.
An upbeat early book on feelings with a simple storyline that little ones will respond to. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-374-37084-8
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2014
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