With exuberant verse, Van Laan (When Winter Comes, 2000, etc.) cheerfully turns supper into child’s play. Mealtime has never been such fun as a rabbit mother and her tot frolic their way through a meal. The doting mother uses rollicking rhymes and games to alternately entertain and coax her little one to eat. With an ebullient blend of nonsense words and bouncy word play, Van Laan’s jolly verses are just right for little ears. “Tippa tip tat / slinga finga bat / peas roll across the floor, / pounce goes the cat!” Classic dinner games such as choo-choo train, here-comes-the-bird, and the old-fashioned chin chopper are included, as well as a few new ones packed with toddler-pleasing silliness. Pons’s gleeful illustrations capture the loving fun of mother and child. Soft-hued watercolors feature the rabbit duo happily engaged in mealtime messiness. Human children will instantly recognize familiar minutiae of childhood in the young bunny’s house, from the wooden highchair to the lidded sippy cup. The sprightly pace, combined with Pons’s oversized, cleanly drawn illustrations make this an ideal read-aloud for the toddler and preschool set. Whether or not they will actually consume their meals as a result of this rambunctious tale remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: Van Laan’s culinary escapade is sure to leave them smiling. (Picture book. 1-5)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-83143-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2001
A good choice for caregivers looking for a positive, uncomplicated introduction to a new baby that focuses on everything an...
A little boy exults in his new role as big brother.
Rhyming text describes the arrival of a new baby and all of the big brother’s rewarding new duties. He gets to help with feedings, diaper changes, playtime, bathtime, and naptime. Though the rhyming couplets can sometimes feel a bit forced and awkward, the sentiment is sweet, as the focus here never veers from the excitement and love a little boy feels for his tiny new sibling. The charming, uncluttered illustrations convincingly depict the growing bond between this fair-skinned, rosy-cheeked, smiling pair of boys. In the final pages, the parents, heretofore kept mostly out of view, are pictured holding the children. The accompanying text reads: “Mommy, Daddy, baby, me. / We love each other—a family!” In companion volume I Am a Big Sister, the little boy is replaced with a little girl with bows in her hair. Some of the colors and patterns in the illustrations are slightly altered, but it is essentially the same title.
A good choice for caregivers looking for a positive, uncomplicated introduction to a new baby that focuses on everything an older sibling can do to help. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-545-68886-4
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A funny, wrenching affirmation of a parent’s unconditional love.
A toddler’s recalcitrance inspires a parent’s book-length retort.
The smallest thing—having to put on shoes, say—can set off a youngster. In this outing, an adult responds to a toddler’s footwear-related tantrum with one long, single-sentence spiel that is the book’s only text. It begins, “Even when… // because of a shoe… / you are screaming / and you don’t want to be screaming / but you just can’t stop screaming…” Across pages, the caregiver describes the child’s obstinacy, forecasting, among other things, a lifetime spent hating shoes (“You want all the shoes / to go to the bottom of the ocean / and get eaten by a shark”). The point, of course, is that even when the kid is screeching and the adult is “making my maddest face / and my eyes are my maddest eyes,” parent and child still love each other. Fogliano’s text, which could almost pass for a narrative poem, is hilarious, cathartic, and, finally, heartwarming—at least it will be for parents. The parent’s full-throttle narration may confound some little ones, who will pick up cues from Frazee’s emotionally attuned multimedia art, which is in color to start, largely grayscale when the parent is most gloom-and-doomiest, and in color again (whew!) when the two have made their peace. Both characters are pale-skinned redheads.
A funny, wrenching affirmation of a parent’s unconditional love. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Feb. 3, 2026
ISBN: 9780593707401
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
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