When kids find a chrysalis in the garden and start asking for facts, this scientifically accurate explanation has just...
Clear and accurate nature photos and straightforward factual text make an attractive package for young lepidopterists.
Unfortunately, children who can understand the vocabulary may be insulted by the board-book format. The first page and last two pages are full size. The second page is split to show both a hatching egg and the quickly growing caterpillar. The next five pages are layered, with each page increasing in size. When viewed all together, the stages of development—from caterpillar to pupa to chrysalis to butterfly—are clearly shown. Text that explains the changes is displayed with each page turn. White sans serif font against solid bright backgrounds is easy to read. The vocabulary is sophisticated and scientifically accurate. A “meet the expert” note on the inside back cover and the extensive note about the American Museum of Natural History clearly addressed to adult readers lend authority to the presentation. The Very Hungry Caterpillar is probably better suited for very young children.
When kids find a chrysalis in the garden and start asking for facts, this scientifically accurate explanation has just enough information for preschoolers—if they are not put off by the babyish format. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: May 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4549-1406-8
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
Burach earns a fist bump if not an actual high-five.
The user instructions on the cover of this board book are simple: “Read, Hi-Five, Repeat.”
Black-lined cartoon images of 12 different animals holding out various appendages for readers to slap are accompanied by rhyming invitations to play this greeting game. Burach assumes, probably correctly, that toddlers already know how to give a high-five, but any who don’t will soon. His rhymes work: “STOMP YOUR FEET! / Hi-five a trunk! // Hold your nose. Hi-five a skunk!” But they introduce vocabulary that many toddlers may not yet possess, as in an elephant’s “trunk,” so caregivers will need to be ready to help interpret. Sometimes meaning becomes lost in the cleverness, as with “Belly slide, flipper flap! / Round the back, polar clap!” This rhyme is paired with a stylized penguin and an extremely abstract polar bear that’s positioned back to, holding its paw behind its back. Each animal has googly eyes, and usually one wing, paw, or fin is extra-large to make a target. The exaggerated appendages that facilitate the game also make the animals look out of proportion and even less like the real thing. The book’s sturdy construction and extra-thick pages will survive the repeated rough handling it invites.
Burach earns a fist bump if not an actual high-five. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-338-24567-7
Page Count: 20
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 23, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2019
Huggy is an adorable character, no mean feat for a python; here’s hoping more of these tender life lessons in the Wee...
Readers teach Huggy the Python how to be gentle.
True to his name, this green, top-hat–wearing, scarf-sporting snake “LOVES to hug the things he loves.” However, disaster ensues when he hugs a balloon and then an oversized bowl of ice cream. “OOPS! You hugged too hard, Huggy.” The unseen narrator stops the action before Huggy can do any damage to a “fuzzy little dog.” Readers are instructed to give the impossibly cute, huge-eyed little pooch a model, “GENTLE” hug, and the dog’s happy dance combines with exuberant confetti to underscore that it “was a GREAT gentle hug!” Huggy learns by this example and follows suit (though his enthusiastic, simultaneous embrace of a tube of toothpaste makes it clear just what the self-control costs him). Dyckman’s jaunty, conversational narration and Griffiths’ fluid and charming cartoons in cheery colors against white backgrounds are perfectly matched. Roary the Lion Roars Too Loud publishes simultaneously.
Huggy is an adorable character, no mean feat for a python; here’s hoping more of these tender life lessons in the Wee Beasties series are on the way. (Board book. 2-3)Pub Date: May 29, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5344-1080-0
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
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