For peekaboo fans ready for a lift-the-flap book.
Seven flaps hide seven friends.
Sharply outfitted anthropomorphic animals play a game of hide-and-seek. Riley the narwhal has a red-striped T-shirt. Elijah the elephant wears glasses and a tie. Gabriel the giraffe sports a bow tie with a windowpane plaid shirt. Mia, the purple monkey dancing on a bed in a red-and-white skirt, and Layla, the llama sleeping under a bed, are the only “friends” with stereotypically female names. (Some readers will be dismayed to see yet another anthropomorphic monkey in a children’s book.) The red fox, Mateo, wears a pearl necklace. Paisley the octopus wears a hat and apron. Children familiar with earlier books in the Beginning Baby series (Welcome to Shape School!; Smile Baby!; and 10 Hugs and Kisses, all published in 2021) may remember these characters, but they will not have achieved celebrity status for most youngsters. A visible bit of tail, ear, paw, hoof, or tentacle hints at where to find the half-circle cutouts to lift the large flaps built into these pages. Small fingers may have difficulty with this fine-motor skill. Detailed domestic scenes offer clues about what each animal was doing before hiding. Objects shown are not labeled. In fact, after a three-sentence explanation of the game, the only text is a verbal cue (“Who is under…?”). The friends are together again on the final spread with an invitation: “Let’s play again soon.”
For peekaboo fans ready for a lift-the-flap book. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7972-0369-0
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2021
A sweet but standard-issue Christmas read.
Little ones are taught their ABCs with Christmas iconography.
A CAT nibbles on a candy cane, and FOXES sing holiday carols, while LANTERNS glow and ORNAMENTS sparkle on festive trees. Christmas is in the air, and so are the letters of the alphabet. Each letter gets a corresponding Christmas illustration, charmingly colored and cozily composed. The easily read text beneath each picture forms rhyming couplets (“GEESE with gumdrops stacked up tall. / HOME is where we deck the halls”), with the key word set in all caps. The imagery mixes spiritual and secular icons side by side: there are baby JESUS, SANTA, the “Three kind KINGS,” and (a little mystifyingly) “UNICORNS donning underwear.” The warm color palette draws little readers in, and the illustrations have a gingerbread-cookie aesthetic, though there is no real attempt to include Christmas traditions such as luminaria from nondominant cultures. The picture that groups a stereotypical Eskimo, an igloo, and some penguins will madden many readers on both cultural and geographical fronts.
A sweet but standard-issue Christmas read. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7624-6125-7
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Running Press Kids
Review Posted Online: Nov. 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
A lovely, simple lift-the-flap book that will stand the test of many a mighty tot.
Little ones learn about bugs.
The world of insects and like small creatures is the focus of this sturdy board book. Each turn of the page gives readers a close view of a particular habitat. The text asks, “Where’s the ladybug?” or “Where’s the snail?” and little ones are encouraged to find the creatures under shaped felt flaps. A caterpillar poses under a leaf with a few bites taken out of it; a bumblebee flies behind a pink tulip. The flaps are made of a reasonably strong material, secured tightly within the book’s pages. Extremely determined readers may figure out a way to pull the flaps out, but most will enjoy flipping them up and over with ease. The last page of the book contains a mirror hidden behind a bush-shaped flap, and readers are asked “And where are you?” The insects smile with big eyes and are composed of large, circular, clean-edged shapes. The color palette is dulled, making the neon flaps pop effectively for little readers. Concurrently publishing companion Where’s the Giraffe? explores the world of jungle animals.
A lovely, simple lift-the-flap book that will stand the test of many a mighty tot. (Board book. 1-2)Pub Date: March 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7636-9335-0
Page Count: 10
Publisher: Nosy Crow
Review Posted Online: June 18, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017
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