This is one breakfast to skip.
The faces of a white-bread family—literally—are created on slices of toast with condiment features.
Every member is introduced, one face per page, including pets, grandparents and cousins. Dad Toast has a large pat of butter for a nose, and squiggles of what looks to be apple butter make the mouth, eyes and eyebrows. The image of Brother Toast uses large panels of American cheese and squirts of red jelly to make a baseball hat, two beady eyes and a food-stained mouth. Bold text written in a brown type labels each family member and describes the characteristics of some (“Grandpa Toast, a bald head”). The family cat and dog meow and woof, and Grandma Toast utters the sole line of dialogue: “‘Hi, Honey!’” All of these images were made using kiln-formed glass. The back-cover blurb states that artists Gross and Busch make it their mission to introduce “young children to the wonderful properties of glass.” As talented as they are, why they chose to make a toast family is baffling. Few of the toast faces look appetizing, with cheese, jam, honey and a white substance (cream cheese?) all on one slice of bread. Many of the faces will be too abstract for young children—Teen Toast apparently has no eyes, Aunt Maude’s are odd splotches, and the honey-made mouth of one of the Toasty Twin Cousins is hard to discern.
This is one breakfast to skip. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: April 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-936669-18-9
Page Count: 14
Publisher: blue manatee press
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2014
Perfect for Valentine’s Day, but the syrupy sweetness will cloy after the holiday.
Animal parents declare their love for their offspring in alphabetical order.
Each page displays an enormous capital letter, one line of verse with the keyword capitalized, and a loving nonhuman parent gazing adoringly at their baby. “A is for Always. I always love you more. / B is for Butterfly kisses. It’s you that I adore.” While not named or labelled as such, the A is also for an alligator and its hatchling and B is for a butterfly and a butterfly child (not a caterpillar—biology is not the aim of this title) interacting in some way with the said letter. For E there are an elephant and a calf; U features a unicorn and foal; and X, keyed to the last letter of the animal’s name, corresponds to a fox and three pups. The final double-page spread shows all the featured creatures and their babies as the last line declares: “Baby, I love you from A to Z!” The verse is standard fare and appropriately sentimental. The art is cartoony-cute and populated by suitably loving critters on solid backgrounds. Hearts accent each scene, but the theme of the project is never in any doubt.
Perfect for Valentine’s Day, but the syrupy sweetness will cloy after the holiday. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-7282-2095-6
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2021
As warm as a hug from Grandma.
Grandma is the star in dozens of picture books for older children, but seldom is the special bond between a toddler and their grandmother portrayed in a book for very young children.
This sweet, but not saccharine, board book fills that gap. Thankfully, this grandma does not have Alzheimer’s and is not dying. She simply delights in spending time with her cherished grandchild. The narrator, a charming bear cub, is not identified as male or female, which makes it easy for both girls and boys to insert themselves in the story. Each of the six rhyming couplets is spread across double-page spreads: “I love the fun we have each day, / And all the funny things you say.” Even in its small board-book trim size, there is still plenty of room for the winsome watercolors to highlight the familiar yet memorable rituals of a day spent with a loving and patient grandma. Note: “Rory Tyger” is the collective pseudonym for the British artistic team of Richard Greaves, Tracey Simmons, and Gabrielle Murphy. Their illustrations were originally used in Good Night, Sleep Tight by Claire Freedman (2003). In that story, the little bear is resisting bedtime. This reworking is a gentle and conflict-free ode to the special love between little bear and a doting grandma.
As warm as a hug from Grandma. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-68010-524-7
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: Sept. 17, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
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