All in all, it’s a great way to introduce bird behavior without lecturing—young children will feel like hopping, pecking,...
An exuberant celebration of birds of all kinds—mostly recognizable species (chicken, flamingo, swan, parrot, starling, penguin, ostrich, peacock) but some imaginary.
This is vintage Cousins, although absent her abiding protagonist, the lively mouse Maisy. The tone is set with the opening spread: “Can you imagine… / just for one day… / you’re a busy bird? / Yes, a bird! / Hooray!” Cousins’ unique handmade style, characterized by a bright, highly saturated color palette and scratchy black outlines, together with the charming rhyming narrative in easy-to-read bold handwriting, will give preschoolers lots of inspiration for exploring bird behaviors and imitating bird sounds. It’s easy to imagine using this as a starting point for a bird-themed activity with a group. The text exhorts readers to “Flap your wings” and “Hop, hop, hop”; to “swim along / and / stretch / up / your / neck”; to “Scratch the ground / with your feet,” and “Catch / a / fly / with / your / beak.” The cozy ending showing a baby parrot cuddling up close with Mama in his nest and the rear endpapers of sleeping birds are perfect for naptime.
All in all, it’s a great way to introduce bird behavior without lecturing—young children will feel like hopping, pecking, and soaring with these exuberant feathered friends. (Picture book. 2-4)Pub Date: March 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7636-9265-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 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
For toddlers unafraid of typical Halloween imagery.
A troop of cats traverse a spooky landscape as they make their way to a party hosted by ghosts.
Each double-page spread shows the felines’ encounters with the likes of an owl, jack-o’-lanterns or a bat. One or two of these creepy meetings may be too abstract for the youngest readers, as the cats hear eerie noises with no discernible source on the page. The text, which consists of one rhyming couplet per scene, mostly scans despite a couple of wobbles: “Five black cats get a bit of a scare / As the flip-flapping wings of a bat fill the air.” The sleek, slightly retro art, likely created using a computer, depicts the cats cavorting at night through a shadowy cityscape, the countryside and a haunted house; they may scare some toddlers and delight others. A brighter color palette would have given the project a friendlier, more universal appeal. Luckily, the well-lit, final party scene provides a playful conclusion.
For toddlers unafraid of typical Halloween imagery. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-58925-611-8
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: Sept. 24, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2014
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