by Sally Grindley & illustrated by Jill Newton ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2001
A case of missing chicks turns into an exuberant romp for young readers as barnyard animals help a mom find her wayward offspring. When Mother Hen sounds the alarm for her lost babies, the whole farmyard turns out to search. Everyone, that is, save Mother Goose. Beak high in the air, the supercilious fowl scolds Mother Hen for not taking good care of her little ones. One by one the chicks are found, with the owl calling out a running tally. Grindley infuses humor into the story by providing a comic twist at the conclusion: Mother Hen is surprised to discover the number of her chicks has doubled from four to eight. Observant readers will quickly determine the identity of the mystery babies, and Mother Hen gets the last cackle—returning the quartet of goslings to the chagrined Mother Goose. Newton’s illustrations feature familiar farm animals in an idyllic pastoral setting. Art and text work in tandem to convey the concept of numbers. As each chick is found, the owl holds out the appropriate number of wing feathers. Readers can then seek out the corresponding number of chicks cleverly scattered throughout each spread. The double-paged, full-bleed spreads are so vibrantly colored that they could be seen from across a room, making this a great group read-aloud. (Picture book. 1-3)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-8037-2497-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2001
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by Patricia Hegarty ; illustrated by Thomas Elliott ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 3, 2021
Guess how much you’ll be reading this.
Parent and child share a day of small adventures and cozy snuggles.
That the two happen to be tortoises is totally beside the point. Die-cut holes and shaped edges turn nearly every page flip into a surprise. Following a parental “Good morning, Baby” to greet the youngling’s “Wake up, wake up, I want to play… / The sun is up, it’s a brand new day!” the two reptiles ramble off to munch on leaves, weather a sudden rain shower, discover a flock of butterflies, climb a hill, watch the moon rise, and, at last, weary little one perched on top, settle down to snooze again. The paper engineering is ingenious. Turning a seemingly arbitrarily shaped page with a special window framing a pink butterfly fills the spread with many jewel-toned insects; even though the tortoises never change position, the scene is completely transformed. Hegarty’s rhymed narrative features lots of tender sentiments—“Wherever you are, wherever you go, / Baby, I’ll always love you so”—while steering clear of any gender references. In Elliott’s peaceful, grassy settings the wanderers’ small smiles and shared glances likewise create a sense of loving intimacy. This is likely to become a victim of its own appeal, being as the paper stock is rather too flimsy to survive much contact with toddler hands. Still, a clear winner for sharing with audiences of one or dozens.
Guess how much you’ll be reading this. (Novelty. 18 mos.-3)Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7282-3509-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2021
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by Jane Cabrera ; illustrated by Jane Cabrera ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 17, 2017
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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