A visually appealing and playful tale about canine appreciation.
A picture book encourages readers to recognize and celebrate dogs.
Repeating the phrase “all puppies are GOOD puppies,” the story’s unseen narrator says that dogs of all shapes, colors, breeds, and sizes should be treasured. Including photographs of assorted canines, the story explains how the pups vary. For example, alongside a photo of different colored dogs, the narrator notes: “This one is BLACK. That one is BROWN. Some…are beige, or golden blonde.” Other variations include coats—such as a dog with straight fur and a pooch with curly fur—and appearance. “FLUFFY” and “STOCKY” breeds are shown. Some examples are interactive, as when the narrator asks readers to point out which dog is “the one that’s skinny and tall.” The tale concludes that while canines have “different names, different faces” and “all come from different places,” they “deserve all of our praises.” Li emphasizes the importance of valuing those who are different via cute, uncredited dog photos; charming illustrations by Zhou and Shen; and simple, descriptive language. This short and sweet book will teach readers to embrace creatures of all kinds while acknowledging that everyone deserves respect. The amusing canine images will delight youngsters. The photos are layered with artistic, line-drawn clothing and accessories to enhance the canine characters. Other fun details include a dog holding an ice cream cone and a pooch driving a car. Backgrounds feature whimsical, colorful details like music notes, paw prints, and hearts.
A visually appealing and playful tale about canine appreciation.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-1-73720-393-3
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Duck Duck Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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