Opposites, friendship, and beautiful artwork all in one charmingly designed book.
Flora is back in another board book (Flora and the Chicks, 2017), all the better for little hands just learning basic concepts.
Wearing a purple romper with white lace along the edges and holding a yellow parasol, the little white girl meets an ostrich in matching purple-and-white feathers. As they glance at each other sideways, Flora facing “front” and the ostrich “back” to, Flora says “hello,” and the shy ostrich hides its head in the sand: “goodbye.” And so this tentative pas de deux continues until a friendship is made. The story is told in opposite pairs of words—hide/seek, under/over, give/take, stop/go. Idle’s elegant and graceful images against a white background are quite simply beautiful. On every other double-page spread a gatefold flap opens and extends the word depicted. The last double-page spread shows Flora on one page holding her hand out to the ostrich looking at her on the opposite page, the word between them reading “apart.” As readers open the double page–spanning gatefold, Flora and the ostrich have met in a balletic pose under the parasol, and the word above them reads “together.” Children will be delighted.
Opposites, friendship, and beautiful artwork all in one charmingly designed book. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4521-4658-4
Page Count: 20
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2018
A colorful, off-kilter barnyard party.
A farmer's clumsiness leads to a color explosion.
"[W]hen the farmer spill[s] paint on [one sheep's] head—" chaos ensues. These sheep receive one outrageous dye job after another as paint cans splatter on their heads. Though the first makeovers are sheer accident, they enjoy their stylish wooly dos. The sheep's faces express their zany personalities with a tilt of their heads and a flip of their floppy ears. With such a slight plot there's not a lot of opportunity for character development, but they do have a lot of fun. The text is not as strong, with meter galloping unevenly from rhyme to rhyme. A lighthearted twist distinguishes the end. “The farmer laughed to see such sport. / He knew just what to do. / He sheared those five silly sheep and said, / Thanks for the scarf, you colorful crew!” Die-cut circles with scalloped edges provide peepholes but seem additional rather than intrinsic to the composition as a whole. Complementing the flock's shenanigans, the farmer toils comically in each digital spread, adding extra visual interest for readers.
A colorful, off-kilter barnyard party. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: June 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-40284-2
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 29, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2012
A formulaic, fishy nighttime read sure to please fans.
For his 20th anniversary, Rainbow Fish gets a bedtime story.
Poor little Rainbow Fish can’t sleep. He tosses and turns, but he’s just too anxious. Mommy sends in the lantern fish, but darkness isn’t the problem. Rainbow Fish asks Mommy to stay and promise she’ll never leave, but even that promise isn’t enough. Rainbow Fish worries that the tide will come in and whisk him away. Mommy promises to swim faster than a swordfish and get Rainbow back home safely. What if he loses his way in a cloud of octopus ink? Mommy promises to find him and dispel the cloud. If a monster fish comes to get him? He’ll have to contend with Mommy first! If a jellyfish threatens? Mommy will rescue Rainbow…even from bad dreams. Pfister’s seventh tale of the sparkly sea dweller, translated from the German, is a perfectly acceptable, though nowhere near innovative, bedtime book. The draw here remains the shiny scales on every page. The watercolor, pencil, and foil illustrations match the rest of the series. Rainbow’s fears are age-appropriate, and young listeners will identify and be comforted.
A formulaic, fishy nighttime read sure to please fans. (Picture book. 2-4)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7358-4082-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: NorthSouth
Review Posted Online: Aug. 7, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
