It’s a one-joke book, but with such master humorists at work, who needs anything more? (Board book. 1-3)
Renowned cartoonists Boynton and Booth team up for a delightful day in the life of canine George.
This white dog lives a sedentary life and prefers to sit and sport a sour grin as members of his family beckon him one by one. With the exception of who’s calling, the first several pages are identical: “HERE, GEORGE!” says a voice. But “George does not move.” However, after they leave the pooch on his own, he hears some music and gets up to dance Snoopy-style through a full double-page spread. When his humans return, they find George in the exact same position as they left him—but with some fond memories that summon a wag from “his happy tail.” Boynton closes the work with the clever aside: “And he is wild about dancing. (Which no one knows but you).” Booth’s iconic cartoon dog, made famous in the pages of the New Yorker, is constructed with a fluid and endearingly shaky line. He masterfully registers a change in mood with a simple upward flick of a cartoon grin or a sideways glance. Boynton’s text is a simple and playful complement, rendered a stand-alone visual element by the decidedly Booth-ian faux handwritten typeface.
It’s a one-joke book, but with such master humorists at work, who needs anything more? (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: May 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5344-2964-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
An excellent, rounded effort from a creator who knows how to deliver.
The farmyard's chickens experience Halloween.
A round, full moon shines in the sky, and the chickens of Boynton's barnyard are feeling “nervous.” Pumpkins shine “with flickering eyes,” witches and wizards wander the pastures, and one chicken has seen “a mouse of enormous size.” It’s Halloween night, and readers will delight as the chickens huddle together and try to figure out what's going on. All ends well, of course, and in Boynton's trademark silly style. (It’s really quite remarkable how her ranks of white, yellow-beaked chickens evoke rows of candy corn.) At this point parents and children know what they're in for when they pick up a book by the prolific author, and she doesn't disappoint here. The chickens are silly, the pigs are cute, and the coloring and illustrations evoke a warmth that little ones wary of Halloween will appreciate. For children leery of the ghouls and goblins lurking in the holiday's iconography, this is a perfect antidote, emphasizing all the fun Halloween has to offer.
An excellent, rounded effort from a creator who knows how to deliver. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Aug. 23, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7611-9300-5
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Workman
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
An upbeat early book on feelings with a simple storyline that little ones will respond to.
This simplified version of Diesen and Hanna’s The Pout-Pout Fish (2008) is appropriate for babies and toddlers.
Brief, rhyming text tells the story of a sullen fish cheered up with a kiss. A little pink sea creature pokes his head out of a hole in the sea bottom to give the gloomy fish some advice: “Smile, Mr. Fish! / You look so down // With your glum-glum face / And your pout-pout frown.” He explains that there’s no reason to be worried, scared, sad or mad and concludes: “How about a smooch? / And a cheer-up wish? // Now you look happy: / What a smile, Mr. Fish!” Simple and sweet, this tale offers the lesson that sometimes, all that’s needed for a turnaround in mood is some cheer and encouragement to change our perspective. The clean, uncluttered illustrations are kept simple, except for the pout-pout fish’s features, which are delightfully expressive. Little ones will easily recognize and likely try to copy the sad, scared and angry looks that cross the fish’s face.
An upbeat early book on feelings with a simple storyline that little ones will respond to. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-374-37084-8
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2014
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