It's a cute idea and an obvious choice for a nice Mother’s or Father’s Day present for new parents, but neither title is...
Dads are given gold stars by their young.
Fathers and all the great things they do are at the center of this board book. Each double-page spread features an anthropomorphic animal giving its father a gold star. Each illustration is narrated in a rhyming couplet from the point of view of the child. For example, "Daddy Cheetah, you're so fast—Hooray! You won the race! / Here's a star to celebrate your super-speedy pace!" The illustrations are composed with the round figures and deep colors Galloway specializes in. Each spread incorporates a die-cut star that’s immediately under and a little smaller than the one in the previous spread, making a progressively recessed tactile feature. The fixed placement of the cutout makes it a little difficult to decode exactly who is giving whom the star; although the text indicates that the child penguin is giving Daddy Penguin a sweater with a star on it, it looks as though the exchange might be going in the opposite direction. A similar title, I Love My Mommy, is concurrently published and features similar scenarios in which moms get similarly die-cut flowers from their kids instead of stars.
It's a cute idea and an obvious choice for a nice Mother’s or Father’s Day present for new parents, but neither title is memorable enough to become a storytime staple . (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-58925-217-2
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
A pleasant holiday spent with a perfectly charming character.
One of Boynton's signature characters celebrates Halloween.
It's Halloween time, and Pookie the pig is delighted. Mom helps the little porker pick out the perfect Halloween costume, a process that spans the entire board book. Using an abcb rhyme scheme, Boynton dresses Pookie in a series of cheerful costumes, including a dragon, a bunny, and even a caped superhero. Pookie eventually settles on the holiday classic, a ghost, by way of a bedsheet. Boynton sprinkles in amusing asides to her stanzas as Pookie offers costume commentary ("It's itchy"; "It's hot"; "I feel silly"). Little readers will enjoy the notion of transforming themselves with their own Halloween costumes while reading this book, and a few parents may get some ideas as well. Boynton's clean, sharp illustrations are as good as ever. This is Pookie's first holiday title, but readers will surely welcome more.
A pleasant holiday spent with a perfectly charming character. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: July 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-553-51233-5
Page Count: 18
Publisher: Robin Corey/Random
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
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Perfect for Valentine’s Day, but the syrupy sweetness will cloy after the holiday.
Animal parents declare their love for their offspring in alphabetical order.
Each page displays an enormous capital letter, one line of verse with the keyword capitalized, and a loving nonhuman parent gazing adoringly at their baby. “A is for Always. I always love you more. / B is for Butterfly kisses. It’s you that I adore.” While not named or labelled as such, the A is also for an alligator and its hatchling and B is for a butterfly and a butterfly child (not a caterpillar—biology is not the aim of this title) interacting in some way with the said letter. For E there are an elephant and a calf; U features a unicorn and foal; and X, keyed to the last letter of the animal’s name, corresponds to a fox and three pups. The final double-page spread shows all the featured creatures and their babies as the last line declares: “Baby, I love you from A to Z!” The verse is standard fare and appropriately sentimental. The art is cartoony-cute and populated by suitably loving critters on solid backgrounds. Hearts accent each scene, but the theme of the project is never in any doubt.
Perfect for Valentine’s Day, but the syrupy sweetness will cloy after the holiday. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-7282-2095-6
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2021
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