For lift-the-flap done right, skip this one and choose Lucy Cousins’ Maisy’s Big Flap Book (2001) or one of Karen Katz’s...
A chunky lift-the-flap board book about a little lost duckling reunited with its family.
Mama Duck has lost her littlest egg. The ladybugs haven’t seen it. Neither have the fish. The Easter Bunny, however, knows exactly where to look. After the family is reunited, they all go home for a good night’s rest. The text incorporates a lift-the-flap feature, but there does not seem to be much rhyme or reason behind this choice. Seemingly random parts of the text and illustrations are hidden under flaps, with the only rhetorically effective spread being the one featuring the flap that turns out to be hiding the little duck. The illustrations incorporate animals made of Play-Doh, lending them a distinct Claymation quality. They are very colorful but so busy as to appear crowded. Little ones might enjoy looking for the yellow eggshell containing the missing duckling on several of the pages if they are not too distracted by the unnecessary flaps.
For lift-the-flap done right, skip this one and choose Lucy Cousins’ Maisy’s Big Flap Book (2001) or one of Karen Katz’s delightful outings, such as Where Is Baby’s Yummy Tummy? (2011) or Where Is Baby’s Puppy? (2011). (Board book. 3-4)Pub Date: March 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-60710-771-2
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Silver Dolphin
Review Posted Online: May 22, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
Unfortunate and inappropriate.
Mouse, squirrel, bird, rabbit, boar and deer all wonder what an acorn will become, and it promises to feed and shelter these animals once it is grown.
Each critter, arriving on the scene in profile, greets the acorn on a double-page spread and asks, “Little acorn, little acorn, what will you be?” The answers that the acorn gives, in a loose rhyme scheme, vary slightly, but its response to the boar is the most creative: “Someday I’ll be a great big tree, and my bark will scratch your back.” The last few pages show the acorn growing into a tall oak and fulfilling its pledge to the animals. Against swathes of green representing a grassy landscape, Gibbs’ creatures, which look to have been created with watercolor and ink, are comically droll and add energy to the staid subject matter. Attached to the cover are two unnecessary felt leaves, thus making the book “Not suitable for children under 3 years old,” as the very tiny fine print on the back of the book notes. As was also the case with Gibbs’ Little Bee (2012), which had fabric wings on the cover, this choking-hazard gimmick makes the book unsafe to use with the typical board-book audience of babies and toddlers and severely limits the age range with which this title can be shared.
Unfortunate and inappropriate. (Board book. 3-4)Pub Date: April 2, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-316-12708-0
Page Count: 20
Publisher: LB Kids/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2013
Toddlers and young preschoolers will snap this up.
Big, colorful animals pop out from beneath big, sturdy flaps in this safari for the Snugli set.
There are occasional hints in the rhymes of “nature red in tooth and claw”: “Who’s lying in the yellow grass with peeking, watchful eyes? / It’s Lion who’s about to pounce—to little Snake’s surprise!” Despite this, the art’s sunny colors and smiling animals have a properly buoyant effect. The flaps, which nearly fill each alternating page, lift up, down or sideways to reveal said Lion, a banana-throwing Monkey, a splashing Elephant, a Giraffe and, for a climactic thrill, a “snippy-snappy Crocodile” with upthrust, closing jaws. Though at just five spreads this outing is a short one, the heavy card stock on which it is printed and the simple architecture of the pop-ups ensure reasonable durability (for the volume, if not that snake). Cheep Cheep Pop-Up Fun publishes simultaneously and features a rather less-fraught setting: a barnyard.
Toddlers and young preschoolers will snap this up. (Pop-up picture book. 3-4)Pub Date: March 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-58925-548-7
Page Count: 10
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2015
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