Interactive elements make this delightfully playful.
A board book with moving parts and an active little bug that transforms into a butterfly.
Though the protagonist is consistently called “the little bug” in Hardenberg’s translation from the French, it is depicted as a genial caterpillar. In a welcome change from traditional lift-the-flap books, its adventure features sliding and spinning pieces. Each with a die-cut hole for little fingers, these interactive manipulatives allow readers to make the little bug climb up a hill, twirl on a red flower, and, in one particularly clever move, jump off a branch and right outside the frame of the book. Each page asks a different question about the little bug’s actions—“Who is hiding in a mushroom?” for instance—and the movement helps readers answer. Eventually, the little bug disappears, replaced by a chrysalis. The final page then reveals a brightly colored pop-up butterfly—the little bug transformed. Babin’s text is straightforward and concise, because really, this one is all about the interaction on the page. Cosneau’s illustrations are similarly simple. The little bug’s segmented body is colorful, with pronounced antennae and big, cartoon eyes. The backgrounds are bright but not overly busy, and they include occasional fine details such as a tiny spider and a trail of ants. Little readers will no doubt enjoy the thrill of moving the little bug around the page, which is really both the focus and the highlight of this one.
Interactive elements make this delightfully playful. (Novelty board book. 1-3)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-2-40802-464-2
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Twirl/Chronicle
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An excellent, rounded effort from a creator who knows how to deliver.
The farmyard's chickens experience Halloween.
A round, full moon shines in the sky, and the chickens of Boynton's barnyard are feeling “nervous.” Pumpkins shine “with flickering eyes,” witches and wizards wander the pastures, and one chicken has seen “a mouse of enormous size.” It’s Halloween night, and readers will delight as the chickens huddle together and try to figure out what's going on. All ends well, of course, and in Boynton's trademark silly style. (It’s really quite remarkable how her ranks of white, yellow-beaked chickens evoke rows of candy corn.) At this point parents and children know what they're in for when they pick up a book by the prolific author, and she doesn't disappoint here. The chickens are silly, the pigs are cute, and the coloring and illustrations evoke a warmth that little ones wary of Halloween will appreciate. For children leery of the ghouls and goblins lurking in the holiday's iconography, this is a perfect antidote, emphasizing all the fun Halloween has to offer.
An excellent, rounded effort from a creator who knows how to deliver. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Aug. 23, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7611-9300-5
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Workman
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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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