These cutesy board books come across as just more saccharine fluff.
Sweet exclamations of unconditional love and admiration are the order of the day here.
Pattern sentences on five double-page spreads start the same way: “I love the way you....” On each page the sentence is completed using animal behavior as a metaphor. In Magsamen's persistently cheerful world, children monkeying around, stomping, and roaring are always appreciated, but toddlers may find that their own parents don’t always follow the book when they stomp and roar. The cartoonish animals modeled on hand-stitched stuffed animals make it clear that this is a fantasy world. Bright backgrounds make the childlike printed text stand out. On each spread the key verb is highlighted by a patchwork design. The pictures are not always clear; “monkey around” is illustrated by swinging monkeys, but a zebra beneath them figures more prominently. Illustrating penguins waddling is also tough. Itsy-Bitsy I Love You, published simultaneously, uses the same design features to rewrite the classic nursery song as a sappy ode to love, kisses, hugs, and cuddles. Felt features on the covers of both titles are tactile extras that may attract fingers but add nothing to the value or message.
These cutesy board books come across as just more saccharine fluff. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: June 28, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-46839-8
Page Count: 10
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A pleasant holiday spent with a perfectly charming character.
One of Boynton's signature characters celebrates Halloween.
It's Halloween time, and Pookie the pig is delighted. Mom helps the little porker pick out the perfect Halloween costume, a process that spans the entire board book. Using an abcb rhyme scheme, Boynton dresses Pookie in a series of cheerful costumes, including a dragon, a bunny, and even a caped superhero. Pookie eventually settles on the holiday classic, a ghost, by way of a bedsheet. Boynton sprinkles in amusing asides to her stanzas as Pookie offers costume commentary ("It's itchy"; "It's hot"; "I feel silly"). Little readers will enjoy the notion of transforming themselves with their own Halloween costumes while reading this book, and a few parents may get some ideas as well. Boynton's clean, sharp illustrations are as good as ever. This is Pookie's first holiday title, but readers will surely welcome more.
A pleasant holiday spent with a perfectly charming character. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: July 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-553-51233-5
Page Count: 18
Publisher: Robin Corey/Random
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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