Many a toddler will appreciate this title's simple and reassuringly predictable content.
Based on a popular app, this board book allows little ones to open and close barn doors to greet familiar farm animals.
Each beast makes its iconic sound as spelled out in black text on the left-hand page, while on the right appears a red-and-white barn with barn-door flaps ready to be opened. Inside the barn, readers meet cartoon critters, such as a rooster, goat, cat, horse, dog, cow and more, with friendly expressions and highly dilated pupils. The flat, cartoon images of the barn, sun, fence and fields appear the same on almost every page, with the position of the clouds the only element that adds variety. The barn’s upper-window flap opens only twice, to reveal a cat and then a mouse. While the flaps have nicely rounded corners, they are not likely to survive robust play. The last double-page spread shows a starry nighttime sky and a few of the animals quietly sleeping in the barn. The front cover promises "free app with purchase," and underneath a scratch-off overlay is a download code to obtain it; readers not familiar with the procedure can visit the app developer’s website for instructions.
Many a toddler will appreciate this title's simple and reassuringly predictable content. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Aug. 5, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-7636-7557-8
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Candlewick Entertainment
Review Posted Online: July 28, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
A pleasant holiday spent with a perfectly charming character.
One of Boynton's signature characters celebrates Halloween.
It's Halloween time, and Pookie the pig is delighted. Mom helps the little porker pick out the perfect Halloween costume, a process that spans the entire board book. Using an abcb rhyme scheme, Boynton dresses Pookie in a series of cheerful costumes, including a dragon, a bunny, and even a caped superhero. Pookie eventually settles on the holiday classic, a ghost, by way of a bedsheet. Boynton sprinkles in amusing asides to her stanzas as Pookie offers costume commentary ("It's itchy"; "It's hot"; "I feel silly"). Little readers will enjoy the notion of transforming themselves with their own Halloween costumes while reading this book, and a few parents may get some ideas as well. Boynton's clean, sharp illustrations are as good as ever. This is Pookie's first holiday title, but readers will surely welcome more.
A pleasant holiday spent with a perfectly charming character. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: July 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-553-51233-5
Page Count: 18
Publisher: Robin Corey/Random
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
An excellent, rounded effort from a creator who knows how to deliver.
The farmyard's chickens experience Halloween.
A round, full moon shines in the sky, and the chickens of Boynton's barnyard are feeling “nervous.” Pumpkins shine “with flickering eyes,” witches and wizards wander the pastures, and one chicken has seen “a mouse of enormous size.” It’s Halloween night, and readers will delight as the chickens huddle together and try to figure out what's going on. All ends well, of course, and in Boynton's trademark silly style. (It’s really quite remarkable how her ranks of white, yellow-beaked chickens evoke rows of candy corn.) At this point parents and children know what they're in for when they pick up a book by the prolific author, and she doesn't disappoint here. The chickens are silly, the pigs are cute, and the coloring and illustrations evoke a warmth that little ones wary of Halloween will appreciate. For children leery of the ghouls and goblins lurking in the holiday's iconography, this is a perfect antidote, emphasizing all the fun Halloween has to offer.
An excellent, rounded effort from a creator who knows how to deliver. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Aug. 23, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7611-9300-5
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Workman
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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