Appealingly playful.
Little Mouse introduces little ones to various opposites in this lift-the-flap offering.
On the left-hand page, the cartoon mouse sets up the scene with a simple query and image: “What time is it, Little Mouse?” On the recto, the blocky text, accompanied by an image of the sun shining on the outside of the flap, reads: “It is daytime. The opposite of daytime is….” Inside the flap, with a star-spangled dark-blue night sky, is the answer: “night-time!” This pattern repeats for a total of eight opposite pairs, such as small and big, up and down, happy and sad, etc. The companion title, Counting Things, utilizes the same russet mouse for an enumeration of various items (tigers, chickens, cars, and such) up to 10. Oddly, the words for each number are written out rather than showing the more recognizable numerals. The opening of the flap cleverly adds one more to the objects being counted. Kövecses’ graphically appealing art uses stripped-down shapes in muted blocks of color to construct toddler-friendly images. The flaps are relatively sturdy with nicely rounded corners.
Appealingly playful. (Board book. 18 mos.-3)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-78603-038-2
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Wide Eyed Editions
Review Posted Online: Sept. 17, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2018
Don’t judge this book by its cover; there’s an unusual concept and whimsical illustrations hiding underneath
A series of solid shapes substitute for natural objects in this board book that is somewhere between concept book and riddle game.
What’s that shape supposed to be? Running across a rust-brown labeled triangle, amid trees and elk, the text “Climb a TRIANGLE to the top” suggests the shape is a mountain; in an ocean scene with a red “STAR washed in on the waves,” the shape implies a sea star. Ample visual cues give young readers enough context to guess what the shape evokes, with some unexpected touches, such as “HEXAGON” printed on hexagonal honeycombs buzzing with bees and surrounded by golden flowers. Short, commanding sentences keep things humming, but with only six shapes covered, the book feels all too brief. Illustrator Devernay combines delicate pencil line drawings and sketchy gray-black shading with tiny, meticulously cut colored-paper collage to create her plants and animals. The most intimate drawings amaze. Close-ups of smooth stones are so appealing that readers will long to pick one up and “rub a smooth OVAL between thumb and finger.” Sadly, the cover doesn’t do the interior justice, and things get murky when several hues mix there and on the final spread. But on other spreads, where there’s a single color, it pops against the gray, such as the minute yellow beaks on the flock of charcoal birds circling the yellow “CIRCLE” sun.
Don’t judge this book by its cover; there’s an unusual concept and whimsical illustrations hiding underneath . (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: March 13, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-56846-317-9
Page Count: 14
Publisher: Creative Editions/Creative Company
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
BLOG
A fun, new take on droppings.
Youngsters can learn about where and how various animals, domestic and wild, relieve themselves.
Via a pull-tab embedded in each recto (not, thankfully, in the rectum) readers can see the before and after, and a goldfish in a bowl leaves a trail while swimming. The verso asks each creature where it does its business, and then a (sometimes-forced) rhyming quatrain, translated from Italian, answers the question: “And where do YOU poop, mouse? / When inside my tummy / Starts to feel not so good / It’s time for a poop / On these chips made of wood!” The final double-page spread queries readers: “And where do YOU poop?” A redheaded, White toddler’s face is visible below this question; the pull-tab on the right opens a bathroom to reveal a White toddler, this time with medium brown hair, happily and modestly sitting on a blue toddler potty. The accompanying quatrain provides some developmentally appropriate guidance for feeling the signs of a movement coming on. Baruzzi’s art is droll and graphically clean (inasmuch as the depiction of excrement can be described that way). Little fingers may need some help finding the relatively easy-to-open and sturdy pull-tabs, since they blend into each page. It works as both a biology lesson and potty-training encouragement.
A fun, new take on droppings. (Novelty board book. 18 mos.-3)Pub Date: May 11, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-66265-042-0
Page Count: 16
Publisher: minedition
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2021
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