A simple and beautiful introduction to animals that make their homes in snowy climes.
Anderson’s square, sturdy board book features baby animals romping, playing and snoozing in the snow.
Each page spread features a group of animals against a wintry landscape, while a single brief sentence identifies them and describes what they are up to. “Roly-poly polar bear cubs play. / Reindeer fawns leap. / Baby beaver kits build.” Readers also meet arctic fox cubs, arctic hare bunnies, husky puppies, penguin chicks and snowy owl chicks. All these baby animals are busy enjoying the day, but when night falls, “Wolf cubs howl at the moon. / Baby harp seal pups snuggle. / And baby panda cubs snooze.” The concept here is simple. It’s the illustrations that make this one shine. The hues and shades of Anderson’s palette convey a chilly atmosphere that is neither bleak nor sterile but alive with color and cheer. Blues, yellows, reds, greens and purples all find their ways into this wintry world. And the adorable animals all seem to be enjoying themselves tremendously, from the arctic bunnies bounding high into the sky, heads and ears thrown back with joy, to sleeping panda cubs piled into a happy heap.
A simple and beautiful introduction to animals that make their homes in snowy climes. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-907152-23-8
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Boxer Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
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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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