Playful, interactive reading fun for the youngest readers.
A lift-the-flap board book plays peekaboo with baby.
Verso-page text asks where various farm animals are from one spread to the next, with the response “Here it is!” on the facing recto. But readers must lift a felt flap to reveal that response and to see the hidden animal in each instance. The titular question doesn’t appear until the penultimate spread, with prior ones asking about the pig, the cow, and the sheep. And, on each spread, there are other unmentioned characters—a bird, a pink-skinned farmer, an olive-skinned person driving a tractor, and a baby chick—who all appear to be looking for the named animals. All pictures feature bold colors and ample open space to make the spreads accessible and engaging for little ones. The culminating spread depicts all previously hidden animals (the sheep, cow, pig, and hen) on the verso under text reading “And where are you?” This time the flap (red felt shaped like a barn) lifts to reveal a mirror and the response: “There you are!” Companion title Where’s the Owl? follows the same pattern but depicts woodland creatures both seeking and being sought before the page with the mirror closes the book.
Playful, interactive reading fun for the youngest readers. (Board book. 6 mos-2)Pub Date: Oct. 10, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7636-9640-5
Page Count: 10
Publisher: Nosy Crow
Review Posted Online: Oct. 9, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own...
The sturdy Little Blue Truck is back for his third adventure, this time delivering Christmas trees to his band of animal pals.
The truck is decked out for the season with a Christmas wreath that suggests a nose between headlights acting as eyeballs. Little Blue loads up with trees at Toad’s Trees, where five trees are marked with numbered tags. These five trees are counted and arithmetically manipulated in various ways throughout the rhyming story as they are dropped off one by one to Little Blue’s friends. The final tree is reserved for the truck’s own use at his garage home, where he is welcomed back by the tree salestoad in a neatly circular fashion. The last tree is already decorated, and Little Blue gets a surprise along with readers, as tiny lights embedded in the illustrations sparkle for a few seconds when the last page is turned. Though it’s a gimmick, it’s a pleasant surprise, and it fits with the retro atmosphere of the snowy country scenes. The short, rhyming text is accented with colored highlights, red for the animal sounds and bright green for the numerical words in the Christmas-tree countdown.
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own tree that will put a twinkle in a toddler’s eyes. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-32041-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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