The beautiful, inviting illustrations ensure readers will keep coming back, finding new details to delight in upon each...
A handy group of creatures comes together to build a house for the neighborhood mouse.
Step by step, each contributing critter helps with the construction of a new house, from the 10 toucans drawing up the plans to the five snails who are “driving nails.” The countdown starts with those 10 toucans and works its way down to one, enumerating animals and steps along the way. All of the pages include simple rhyming phrases that read tightly and naturally. The progression of the story from plans to moving in is logical and believable, a thoughtful touch. It’s really MacNeill’s skillful hand with the detailed illustrations that sets this one apart. The pages incorporate graph paper, the front and back covers have ruled edging, and the large numbers of the countdown are filled with tiny patterns that echo the larger illustrations. Perhaps the most delightful of these details is that the final two pages point out to readers that a heart is hidden on each page, encouraging a seek-and-find reread. The only reason to raise an eyebrow is to the scale of a couple illustrations: If it’s truly a mouse house that the animals are building, then aren’t the bear-sized stairs (built by six bears) rather inconvenient? The charming mixed-media illustrations provide so much visual interest readers probably won’t mind, and the age-appropriate rhyming text is a sweet accompaniment.
The beautiful, inviting illustrations ensure readers will keep coming back, finding new details to delight in upon each revisit. (Board book. 6 mos.-3)Pub Date: Sept. 25, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4598-1659-6
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: Nov. 20, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2019
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own...
The sturdy Little Blue Truck is back for his third adventure, this time delivering Christmas trees to his band of animal pals.
The truck is decked out for the season with a Christmas wreath that suggests a nose between headlights acting as eyeballs. Little Blue loads up with trees at Toad’s Trees, where five trees are marked with numbered tags. These five trees are counted and arithmetically manipulated in various ways throughout the rhyming story as they are dropped off one by one to Little Blue’s friends. The final tree is reserved for the truck’s own use at his garage home, where he is welcomed back by the tree salestoad in a neatly circular fashion. The last tree is already decorated, and Little Blue gets a surprise along with readers, as tiny lights embedded in the illustrations sparkle for a few seconds when the last page is turned. Though it’s a gimmick, it’s a pleasant surprise, and it fits with the retro atmosphere of the snowy country scenes. The short, rhyming text is accented with colored highlights, red for the animal sounds and bright green for the numerical words in the Christmas-tree countdown.
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own tree that will put a twinkle in a toddler’s eyes. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-32041-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
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
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