“Dream kitten, / fluff kitten, / sun kitten, / light. / Yawn kitten, / stretch kitten, / sweet kitten, / bright.” Rhythmic, rhyming verse follows a girl and her new kitten through a day of discovery and play. Kitten has breakfast and cleans up. She watches the goldfish swim and hops into a comfy chair. She learns lessons: “No, kitten, / don’t, kitten, / stop. Kitten, / claws,” when she tries to claw the couch. And gets a suggested alternate behavior: “Yes, kitten, / good, kitten, / nice, kitten, / paws,” and is shown to her scratching post. Kitten plays with yarn, chases a squirrel, gets stuck up a tree and has milk before settling down to dream. This feline answer to My Pup (2008) by the same team is just as toe-tapping and easy to read as its canine predecessor. The sing-song-y rhyme may seem childish to older readers, but those just starting out will pick up words with the rhythm and repetition. The watercolor-and–colored-pencil illustrations are both spot and full-bleed, and they match the action of the text wonderfully. Pussycat fans will delight in the contented orange kitten and her attentive little girl; repeated readings will be required. (Picture book. 2-5)
Pub Date: March 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7614-5811-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish
Review Posted Online: April 9, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2011
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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