With its companion, another solid outing for Patricelli’s tot
A board book for toddlers who are almost ready for their first haircuts.
Patricelli’s familiar, light-skinned, oval-headed baby, outlined in black with rosy smudges for cheeks, manages to express a full range of emotion—from pride to fear to worry to surprise and back to pride, all while explaining the importance of hair care. Though this baby has just one curly strand of hair (“I have a hair!”), it still needs to be washed, brushed, and decorated, until it grows so long that it must be cut. Adults may chuckle at the baby’s rejection of the dog groomer for that first haircut, but much of the humor will go right over the heads of toddlers. A final double-page spread illustrates “more kinds of hair” with very unbabyish vocabulary—“unibrow,” “Mohawk”—mixed in among words such as “beard,” and “curly.” The baby’s reasonable question, “Will it hurt?” gives voice to the concerns of toddlers heading to the barber for the first time, and the turn of the page assures them, “It did not hurt!” Nighty-Night (published simultaneously) will have more long-term use. That same one-haired baby rhymes its way through a bedtime-avoidance routine complete with a subtle homage to Goodnight Moon and an exuberant “naked dance.”
With its companion, another solid outing for Patricelli’s tot . (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7636-7931-6
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 18, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Clear nonfiction for the very young is hard to come by, and it appears that the Look & Learn series may finally be on...
An exploration of the human body through colorful photos.
Every other double-page spread labels the individual parts on one major area: head, torso, back, arm and leg. Ethnically diverse boy-girl pairs serve as models as arrows point to specific features and captions float nearby. While the book usefully mentions rarely depicted body parts, such as eyebrow, armpit and shin, some of the directional arrows are unclear. The arrow pointing at a girl’s shoulder hits her in the upper arm, and the belly button is hard is distinguish from the stomach (both are concealed by shirts). Facts about the human body (“Guess what? You have tiny hairs in your nose that keep out dirt”) appear on alternating spreads along with photos of kids in action. Baby Animals, another title in the Look & Learn series, uses an identical format to introduce readers to seal pups, leopard cubs, elephant calves, ducklings and tadpoles. In both titles, the final spread offers a review of the information and encourages readers to match baby animals to their parents or find body parts on a photo of kids jumping on a trampoline.
Clear nonfiction for the very young is hard to come by, and it appears that the Look & Learn series may finally be on the right track despite earlier titles that were much too conceptual for the audience. (Board book. 18 mos.-3)Pub Date: Feb. 11, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4263-1483-4
Page Count: 24
Publisher: National Geographic
Review Posted Online: April 29, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2014
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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