A book to enjoy with dog-loving little ones—if not one to follow for its gift-giving advice.
Puppy and Baby are double the trouble and double the love in this baby-and-dog picture book.
The title-page illustration shows bald, brown-skinned Baby receiving a new puppy as a gift while dubious parents look on. Baby, Mommy, and an older couple who appears to be her puppy-as-gift-giving parents are all people of color with brown skin, while Baby’s father appears to be white. The presumably well-intended (and clueless?!) grandparents are never mentioned in the text and don’t appear again in the story, leaving Mommy and Daddy to deal with a series of mishaps as “Baby enjoys breakfast” and Puppy does too, and then they get dressed, work in the garden, and bathe. Understated text achieves humor through counterpoint with comical illustrations that reveal the messes and mischief inherent in these activities. When Mommy and Daddy collapse at naptime, wakeful Baby and Puppy overcome their separation wrought by a baby gate and crib and from then on: “Baby stays beside Puppy. Puppy stays beside Baby. Every single second. No matter what.” By the book’s end it seems that Mommy and Daddy have decided to just go with the flow of their gruesome twosome and embrace the toddler-canine chaos.
A book to enjoy with dog-loving little ones—if not one to follow for its gift-giving advice. (Picture book. 2-4)Pub Date: April 4, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-62979-466-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: Jan. 31, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
Parents of toddlers starting school or day care should seek separation-anxiety remedies elsewhere, and fans of the original...
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A good choice for caregivers looking for a positive, uncomplicated introduction to a new baby that focuses on everything an...
A little boy exults in his new role as big brother.
Rhyming text describes the arrival of a new baby and all of the big brother’s rewarding new duties. He gets to help with feedings, diaper changes, playtime, bathtime, and naptime. Though the rhyming couplets can sometimes feel a bit forced and awkward, the sentiment is sweet, as the focus here never veers from the excitement and love a little boy feels for his tiny new sibling. The charming, uncluttered illustrations convincingly depict the growing bond between this fair-skinned, rosy-cheeked, smiling pair of boys. In the final pages, the parents, heretofore kept mostly out of view, are pictured holding the children. The accompanying text reads: “Mommy, Daddy, baby, me. / We love each other—a family!” In companion volume I Am a Big Sister, the little boy is replaced with a little girl with bows in her hair. Some of the colors and patterns in the illustrations are slightly altered, but it is essentially the same title.
A good choice for caregivers looking for a positive, uncomplicated introduction to a new baby that focuses on everything an older sibling can do to help. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-545-68886-4
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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