A master of the bedtime hush, Fox shines.
An adult mouse spins tales to lull a young mouse to sleep.
Bedtime often begs for creativity in parents if they are called upon for a story. The child ends up hearing an inventive mix of a little of this and a little of that. Fox whirls that colloquialism into a gentle rhyme, beginning with the soothing refrain: “I’ll tell you a story of this, / and I’ll tell you a story of that.” Each scenario that follows is a tantalizing possibility: “I’ll tell you a story / of cavernous caves / and a chimp / with a magic hat.” Here Horacek transforms the tiny mouse’s bed, a green box, into a boat, taking both parent and child on an adventure past said silly monkeys. Then, mouse and pup scamper to a new setting, while the narrator again intones, “I’ll tell you a story of this, / and I’ll tell you a story of that.” As the conceit spins itself out, Horacek’s boldly outlined critter duo find themselves in a bustling, multicultural market—meeting a pair of tangled giraffes that are trying to sit on a mat—and then a castle filled with royalty of all races (where, of course, kings and queens liked to chat). The repetition of “that” and the many words that rhyme with it creates a rhythm that encourages participation and can also be used by the adult to dial down a child’s energy at the end of the day.
A master of the bedtime hush, Fox shines. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-338-03780-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2016
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it.
A succession of animal dads do their best to teach their young to say “Dada” in this picture-book vehicle for Fallon.
A grumpy bull says, “DADA!”; his calf moos back. A sad-looking ram insists, “DADA!”; his lamb baas back. A duck, a bee, a dog, a rabbit, a cat, a mouse, a donkey, a pig, a frog, a rooster, and a horse all fail similarly, spread by spread. A final two-spread sequence finds all of the animals arrayed across the pages, dads on the verso and children on the recto. All the text prior to this point has been either iterations of “Dada” or animal sounds in dialogue bubbles; here, narrative text states, “Now everybody get in line, let’s say it together one more time….” Upon the turn of the page, the animal dads gaze round-eyed as their young across the gutter all cry, “DADA!” (except the duckling, who says, “quack”). Ordóñez's illustrations have a bland, digital look, compositions hardly varying with the characters, although the pastel-colored backgrounds change. The punch line fails from a design standpoint, as the sudden, single-bubble chorus of “DADA” appears to be emanating from background features rather than the baby animals’ mouths (only some of which, on close inspection, appear to be open). It also fails to be funny.
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 9, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-250-00934-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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
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