Big, colorful animals pop out from beneath big, sturdy flaps in this safari for the Snugli set.
There are occasional hints in the rhymes of “nature red in tooth and claw”: “Who’s lying in the yellow grass with peeking, watchful eyes? / It’s Lion who’s about to pounce—to little Snake’s surprise!” Despite this, the art’s sunny colors and smiling animals have a properly buoyant effect. The flaps, which nearly fill each alternating page, lift up, down or sideways to reveal said Lion, a banana-throwing Monkey, a splashing Elephant, a Giraffe and, for a climactic thrill, a “snippy-snappy Crocodile” with upthrust, closing jaws. Though at just five spreads this outing is a short one, the heavy card stock on which it is printed and the simple architecture of the pop-ups ensure reasonable durability (for the volume, if not that snake). Cheep Cheep Pop-Up Fun publishes simultaneously and features a rather less-fraught setting: a barnyard.
Toddlers and young preschoolers will snap this up. (Pop-up picture book. 3-4)Pub Date: March 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-58925-548-7
Page Count: 10
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2015
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS
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A family of four’s new house is perfect save for one feature.
It has everything they need: a big yard, a tree with a sea gulls’ nest in it, and an enormous bathtub. But there’s one problem: In that huge bathtub, there’s a walrus. And he doesn’t want to leave. He makes bathtub tidal waves, he floods the house, and he uses all the toothpaste. The family members do their best to convince the walrus to leave, and little readers will get a few good chuckles out of the increasingly absurd tactics. The text is conveyed almost entirely in list form, with occasional snippets of dialogue and arrows pointing to various pictorial elements when necessary. The “WORST things about having a walrus in the bathtub: 1) Dial-a-Clam deliveries 2) Pool parties 3) Walrus songs” leads naturally to “Things that are louder than walrus songs: 1) Nothing”; underscoring this is the walrus’s not-so-tuneful “AAAAHHHROOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH!!!” The illustrations are suitably kinetic, milking the absurdity of a walrus in a bathtub for all it’s worth, and they add a narrative subtext, depicting one child’s evident delight in the presence of the family’s unintended roommate. Unfortunately, compositions are so busy, chock-full of silliness plus additional characters such as the family’s dog and the walrus’s visiting friends, that it may be hard for little readers to focus on that relationship. The family members all have light skin and straight hair that’s either black or brown.
Overdone, even for a tall tale. (Picture book. 3-4)Pub Date: July 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-8037-4101-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 14, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2018
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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It's unfortunate that opposites attract in this dismal offering.
Little Speckled Bug meets his neighbor and immediately feels a connection to the female Bug Next Door, even though they express quite different interests. Little Speckled Bug wants to play boisterous games; the buggy diva's suggestions are stereotypically feminine in contrast. “What if we dressed up as flower fairies instead? We could put on long dresses and wear make up.” In an awkward sequence, the pair share hobbies, including collecting the appendages of their fellow insects (!), and a kiss. Little Speckled Bug's cheeks flush as he pines for his new love. The abrupt, didactic conclusion is both pretentious and perplexing: “But you see, in the blanket, just as in the rest of the world, there are lots of differences between girls and boys”—though other references have been made to the "blanket," its relationship to the book’s world is never explained. The mostly felted mixed-media spreads incorporate a hodgepodge of commonly found items, including sequins and postage stamps. Facial expressions are rigid, and the emotions portrayed inauthentic.
There's not one decent insect leg to stand on here. (Board book. 3-4)Pub Date: April 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7148-6356-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Phaidon
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2012
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS
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