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UNICORN

From the My Little World series

Introduces colors in a pleasing but not outstanding way.

A vibrant, tactile guide to colors.

Each page features happy unicorns prancing through various landscapes introducing the different colors of the rainbow. A die-cut arch appears in the middle of each page, giving tiny fingers a chance to flip pages. Descending in size with each page turn, it is a modified rainbow that corresponds with the pastel hue introduced on each page. The surrounding images are detailed, placing the unicorns in lush settings where children can identify multiple creatures and plants in the various hues. The rhyming text is bouncy and fun to read aloud, and the letters float whimsically on the page, making it easy for emerging readers to follow along. Relatively advanced vocabulary such as “galloping” and “swish” will keep older readers engaged. The co-published Flamingo focuses on counting, each page featuring bright pink birds and chicks playing on sandy beaches throughout the course of a beautiful, sunny day; its die-cut gimmick is simply the shape of a flamingo’s body, and both its text and illustrations are more pedestrian than Unicorn’s. Overall, the books are enjoyable enough but do not stand out, making them a solid choice but not necessarily an exciting one.

Introduces colors in a pleasing but not outstanding way. (Board book. 1-3)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-68010-597-1

Page Count: 16

Publisher: Tiger Tales

Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2019

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ALL ABOUT ME

From the Look & Learn series

Clear nonfiction for the very young is hard to come by, and it appears that the Look & Learn series may finally be on...

An exploration of the human body through colorful photos.

Every other double-page spread labels the individual parts on one major area: head, torso, back, arm and leg. Ethnically diverse boy-girl pairs serve as models as arrows point to specific features and captions float nearby. While the book usefully mentions rarely depicted body parts, such as eyebrow, armpit and shin, some of the directional arrows are unclear. The arrow pointing at a girl’s shoulder hits her in the upper arm, and the belly button is hard is distinguish from the stomach (both are concealed by shirts). Facts about the human body (“Guess what? You have tiny hairs in your nose that keep out dirt”) appear on alternating spreads along with photos of kids in action. Baby Animals, another title in the Look & Learn series, uses an identical format to introduce readers to seal pups, leopard cubs, elephant calves, ducklings and tadpoles. In both titles, the final spread offers a review of the information and encourages readers to match baby animals to their parents or find body parts on a photo of kids jumping on a trampoline.

Clear nonfiction for the very young is hard to come by, and it appears that the Look & Learn series may finally be on the right track despite earlier titles that were much too conceptual for the audience. (Board book. 18 mos.-3)

Pub Date: Feb. 11, 2014

ISBN: 978-1-4263-1483-4

Page Count: 24

Publisher: National Geographic

Review Posted Online: April 29, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2014

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HELLO LAMB

It’s not exactly original, but the execution, with familiar, appealing Cabrera illustrations, is attractive and perfect for...

This simple board book invites little ones to greet baby farm animals (including frog, bunny, and bee) with their corresponding sounds.

The first double-page spread greets readers with a bright yellow smiling sun and the text “Hello, Sun. / Hello, Day. / Wake up, babies. / Time to play!” Each succeeding spread has a distinct, gently patterned background, with very brief text on the verso (“Hello Puppy! / Woof Woof”). Filling up the recto is a vibrant illustration of the baby animal’s face, wide eyed and smiling, outlined in black. The final spread presents the face of a cute baby with chalky brown-gray skin, bright black eyes, and short black hair: “Goo Goo.” Babies and toddlers will enjoy looking at the baby faces, animals and human, and repeating the sounds. A companion book, Goodnight Bear, has a similar pattern of text and illustrations, though the palette is suitably darker. The moon, surprisingly, has its eyes shut, and succeeding spreads depict an owlet, a baby bat, a baby hedgehog, and other familiar nocturnal baby animals, all wide-awake and smiling. The final spread depicts a cute baby with pale skin, blond hair, and closed eyes.

It’s not exactly original, but the execution, with familiar, appealing Cabrera illustrations, is attractive and perfect for the target audience. (Board book. 1-3)

Pub Date: Jan. 17, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-4998-0430-0

Page Count: 24

Publisher: Little Bee Books

Review Posted Online: May 23, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017

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