A colorful introduction to the sea, with fun flaps sturdy enough to survive the repeated use it will surely see.
Little Fish introduces toddlers to fishy friends and the secrets of the sea.
Using her signature saturated color illustrations and short verses with simple rhymes, Cousins takes the youngest listeners on an enticing tour of various ocean locations. Little Fish is easy to spot, with a bright orange body, yellow spots, and green stripes. The tour begins at the “rock pools / by the sandy shore.” Lift the sturdy, almost full-page flap to find shells, seaweed, and crabs. Swim deeper with Little Fish, and thread through the kelp beds with a turtle, a dolphin, and a stingray. Finally, dive deep in waters “where it’s dark / as night” to find a squid and an eel as well as an anglerfish; a strategic flap lift emphasizes the anglerfish’s surprising ability to radiate light from the lanternlike appendage on its head. If you can brave the cold, it’s on to the Antarctic to find penguins, a seal, a narwhal, and a comparatively giant blue whale that, with the help of a flap, stretches more than two pages long. The illustrations’ colors and the waters warm up as the tour ends at Little Fish’s home, a coral reef, where Little Fish introduces Mommy Fish and prepares to snuggle up for a well-deserved rest.
A colorful introduction to the sea, with fun flaps sturdy enough to survive the repeated use it will surely see. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: March 8, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5362-1685-1
Page Count: 10
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2022
Leave the hopping to Peter Cottontail and sing the original song instead.
An Easter-themed board-book parody of the traditional nursery rhyme.
Unfortunately, this effort is just as sugary and uninspired as The Itsy Bitsy Snowman, offered by the same pair in 2015. A cheerful white bunny hops through a pastel world to distribute candy and treats for Easter but spills his baskets. A hedgehog, fox, mouse, and various birds come to the bunny’s rescue, retrieving the candy, helping to devise a distribution plan, and hiding the eggs. Then magically, they all fly off in a hot air balloon as the little animals in the village emerge to find the treats. Without any apparent purpose, the type changes color to highlight some words. For very young children every word is new, so highlighting “tiny tail” or “friends” makes no sense. Although the text is meant to be sung, the words don't quite fit the rhythm of the original song. Moreover, there are not clear motions to accompany the text; without the fingerplay movements, this book has none of the satisfying verve of the traditional version.
Leave the hopping to Peter Cottontail and sing the original song instead. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-5621-0
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
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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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