OK, if aptly titled.
Robot buddies trash the house together and then clean up after themselves.
After charging up their batteries, two colorful robots initiate their play sequence and go to town “squishing,” “crashing,” “twirling,” and “splatting” anything in their paths. The artwork is eye-catching and the sound effects fun to read aloud with children, but the mayhem level is unregulated by any moral or practical concern. The narrative is thin. What the robots are squishing and splatting is never specified, and whether or not they should be doing so also goes unaddressed. Commentary is relegated to the “We LOVE squishing” level. Any complexity in the text arises from the introduction of robot and computer terminology: “Splatting TICKLES our GIGGLEBYTES,” and “Sensors indicate making a mess is FUN!!” Once mired in the mess they’ve created, the two friends scan their surroundings, process the data, and identify a solution, which is, of course, to clean up their mess. That lesson in problem-solving may be the most useful moment in the book. The clean-up scenes involve wiping, slurping with vacuum hoses, squirting suds, and scrubbing until the mess is “terminated.” The message that one should clean up after making a mess is a good one. Unfortunately, the idea of toddlers smearing goo and squirting suds sounds as potentially disastrous as all the squishing and splatting that created the problem in the first place.
OK, if aptly titled. (Board book. 18 mos.-4)Pub Date: April 3, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5344-0567-7
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 10, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Put on those gardening gloves; the fruits of this labor beckon.
A young girl watches her garden grow.
Though she's a bit older than the typical board-book audience, her self-reliance makes her an appealing character for toddlers struggling to assert their independence. The strategic use of sturdy flaps provides both peekaboo fun and structure to the storyline. “Yellow daisy. / Red rose. / A bud blooms. / [lift flap] A flower grows.” Some of the interactive elements clearly connect objects to one another (shovel, pail), while other pairings review the progress of the blossoming outdoors. The child enjoys the results of her hard work (smelling a flower has never been so sweet) and waters her lush plants with her pint-sized watering can. Varied vocabulary extends the text. “Harvest carrots / . . . squash and peas. / [lift flap] Pollinated by the bees.” Perhaps due to their having been printed on recycled paper with soy inks, the matte sides of the flaps tend to be darker than the rest, which are glossy.
Put on those gardening gloves; the fruits of this labor beckon. (Board book. 18 mos.-3)Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-307-93041-5
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: June 12, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Many bedtime books featuring animal sounds exist, but few are executed with such skill; this one has the potential to become...
That picture-book master for the very young, Caldecott Honoree Tafuri (Have You Seen My Duckling?, 1985), proves the barnyard a fertile setting in her latest offering.
As readers follow mama bird flying around the farm, various animals show affection for their families. In her classic oversized style, the author/illustrator uses watercolors to warmly portray creatures that fascinate young children. The simple text begins, “Little ones love kisses.” But “Little Chick loves Cheep kisses” and “Little Dove loves Cooo kisses.” The familiar barnyard animals included are painted close up, as if to appear life size. And although their common accompanying sounds are reflected in the text, readers will notice softly drawn words for the sounds emanating from the creatures’ mouths. Even an animal that is known for being silent is added: “Little Bunny loves quiet—Sniff—kisses!” The cozy story concludes with what most already know, “the best kiss of all… / is Mommy’s kiss good night.” Little ones will appreciate the large format and respond to the predictable repetition of the text. Slightly older children can interact further with the book by trying to find the blue bird on each full-bleed spread.
Many bedtime books featuring animal sounds exist, but few are executed with such skill; this one has the potential to become a classic. (Picture book. 1-4)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-316-12235-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2011
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