Where is Little Fish? He should be on shelves serving young children everywhere.
Little Fish plays hide-and-seek.
A board book should be brief to match a toddler’s attention span, have humor that a young child can appreciate, and provide reasons for caregiver and child to linger over each page. Cousins, best known for the popular Maisy stories, scores on all counts here. On the first page, the smiling Little Fish speaks directly to readers with an invitation to play the familiar game of hide-and-seek. Six possible hiding places are concealed beneath flaps on the subsequent pages. By the second reading, young children will chime in with a satisfying “No” as each flap reveals a different sea creature. Finally, as in Cousins’ earlier Hooray for Fish (2005), the final flap lifts to reveal Little Fish and Mom Fish sharing kisses. The six page turns and six flaps are just enough to ensure that board-book readers will say “read it again.” The creatures have monikers such as “shelly fish” and “stripy fish,” but even though these names are invented, their hiding places hint at real habitats and actual fish behavior. Each flap includes a small cutout to make it clear where it should be opened. This feature may help the rather thin flaps survive frequent tugs from eager little fingers.
Where is Little Fish? He should be on shelves serving young children everywhere. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: March 13, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-7636-9486-9
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Jan. 21, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
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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