by Sarah Hines Stephens & illustrated by Anna Grossnickle Hines & developed by appropo ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 20, 2013
Not as chewable as the originals, but the enhancements are expertly integrated rather than just tacked on and will welcome...
Comfy-cozy digital version of a board book (one of a 1998 trio) featuring a black cat and a squeaky toy mouse.
Touch-sensitive elements—a snoring cat, a toy that squeaks when tapped and can be dragged across a floor or tabletop—and animations such as a slowly setting sun or a falling tablecloth add very easy-to-follow motion to Hines’ original, extra-simple domestic scenes. Here, views of Bean snoozing beneath a window sandwich a brief nighttime stalk and chase. Bean’s Baby offers a nose-to-nose encounter with a laughing infant followed by a shared nap. Bean’s Games include quick rounds of “Jumping Bean,” “String Bean” and, at last, (unsurprisingly) boneless slumber on the lap of a “Human-Bean.” Along with auto-play or manual-advance options, in all three 11-screen episodes, a child reads aloud (optionally) the one or two words or two-word sentences on each screen, then at the end chirps “Again?” Toddlers will certainly take her up on the invitation.
Not as chewable as the originals, but the enhancements are expertly integrated rather than just tacked on and will welcome rather than overwhelm the target audience. (iPad storybook app. 6 mos.-2)Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2013
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: appropo
Review Posted Online: Nov. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2013
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by Benjamin Harper & Sarah Hines Stephens ; illustrated by Anoosha Syed
by Dan Saks ; illustrated by Brooke Smart ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2020
A joyful celebration.
Families in a variety of configurations play, dance, and celebrate together.
The rhymed verse, based on a song from the Noodle Loaf children’s podcast, declares that “Families belong / Together like a puzzle / Different-sized people / One big snuggle.” The accompanying image shows an interracial couple of caregivers (one with brown skin and one pale) cuddling with a pajama-clad toddler with light brown skin and surrounded by two cats and a dog. Subsequent pages show a wide array of families with members of many different racial presentations engaging in bike and bus rides, indoor dance parties, and more. In some, readers see only one caregiver: a father or a grandparent, perhaps. One same-sex couple with two children in tow are expecting another child. Smart’s illustrations are playful and expressive, curating the most joyful moments of family life. The verse, punctuated by the word together, frequently set in oversized font, is gently inclusive at its best but may trip up readers with its irregular rhythms. The song that inspired the book can be found on the Noodle Loaf website.
A joyful celebration. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-22276-8
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Rise x Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
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by Dan Saks ; illustrated by Brooke Smart
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by Dan Saks ; illustrated by Brooke Smart
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by Dan Saks ; illustrated by Brooke Smart
by Loren Long & illustrated by Loren Long ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2009
Continuing to find inspiration in the work of Virginia Lee Burton, Munro Leaf and other illustrators of the past, Long (The Little Engine That Could, 2005) offers an aw-shucks friendship tale that features a small but hardworking tractor (“putt puff puttedy chuff”) with a Little Toot–style face and a big-eared young descendant of Ferdinand the bull who gets stuck in deep, gooey mud. After the big new yellow tractor, crowds of overalls-clad locals and a red fire engine all fail to pull her out, the little tractor (who had been left behind the barn to rust after the arrival of the new tractor) comes putt-puff-puttedy-chuff-ing down the hill to entice his terrified bovine buddy successfully back to dry ground. Short on internal logic but long on creamy scenes of calf and tractor either gamboling energetically with a gaggle of McCloskey-like geese through neutral-toned fields or resting peacefully in the shade of a gnarled tree (apple, not cork), the episode will certainly draw nostalgic adults. Considering the author’s track record and influences, it may find a welcome from younger audiences too. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-399-25248-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2009
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