Happy families are wildly different in this joyfully inclusive series of lavishly photographed portraits.
Love makes the world go round, but it can be a complex concept to explain to a toddler.
Thankfully, Douglas and Jefferson tackle the topic with aplomb, providing soon-to-be readers with simple text and images and caregivers with a superb tool to spark conversation. Pairing brief sentences with eye-catching photos, the authors emphasize that love is a multifaceted thing: “Sometimes love feels happy. Sometimes it brings a tear.” “Love can be soft and gentle or hard when we need space.” The accompanying visuals clarify the points made in ways little ones will readily understand (a caregiver cradles a baby; a child in need of space holds out a hand). Douglas and Jefferson demonstrate ways to express their love: “Sometimes love is helpful” (a youngster helps a parent wash dishes). “Love is listening even when there’s nothing to say” (a child comforts a crying baby; two people hug). A diverse cast is depicted. Several couples read as same-sex; a family in a courtroom celebrates their adoption being made official. The relationships between the people portrayed aren’t made explicitly clear by the text, offering a wide variety of readers the opportunity to see themselves here. To aid in starting dialogue, the last pages of the book feature discussion questions for youngsters ranging in age from babies and toddlers up to age 6, along with a note for grown-ups. We love it!
Happy families are wildly different in this joyfully inclusive series of lavishly photographed portraits. (Board book. 1-4)Pub Date: Dec. 2, 2025
ISBN: 9781419780141
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Abrams Appleseed
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
Wonderful, indeed
A love song to baby with delightful illustrations to boot.
Sweet but not saccharine and singsong but not forced, Martin’s text is one that will invite rereadings as it affirms parental wishes for children while admirably keeping child readers at its heart. The lines that read “This is the first time / There’s ever been you, / So I wonder what wonderful things / You will do” capture the essence of the picture book and are accompanied by a diverse group of babies and toddlers clad in downright adorable outfits. Other spreads include older kids, too, and pictures expand on the open text to visually interpret the myriad possibilities and hopes for the depicted children. For example, a spread reading “Will you learn how to fly / To find the best view?” shows a bespectacled, school-aged girl on a swing soaring through an empty white background. This is just one spread in which Martin’s fearless embrace of the white of the page serves her well. Throughout the book, she maintains a keen balance of layout choices, and surprising details—zebras on the wallpaper behind a father cradling his child, a rock-’n’-roll band of mice paralleling the children’s own band called “The Missing Teeth”—add visual interest and gentle humor. An ideal title for the baby-shower gift bag and for any nursery bookshelf or lap-sit storytime.
Wonderful, indeed . (Picture book. 1-4)Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-37671-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: June 5, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2015
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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