Enjoyable propaganda. (Board book. 1-2)
Baby Sam, a reluctant eater, finally takes a bite with the help of the spoon-as-airplane trick.
The book comes with a set of cardboard wings that adults can punch out of the back of the book and then fold around any adult-sized spoon to make it into an airplane. At the beginning of the book, Sam stubbornly sits with mouth shut tight in his high chair. Mom holds a wing-adorned spoon, promising, “These yummy green beans will make you big as an elephant!” Across the gutter, Sam’s father casts an elephant-shaped shadow on the wall. The pattern repeats with other foodstuffs and animals. When his parents have given up all hope, Sam proudly grabs the airplane spoon and shovels in a mound of grub. Burks’ retro cartoons in a muted color palette look hip, and the expressions of the various family members will be clear and accessible to little ones. While the cardboard-plane spoon is a very clever idea and it is relatively easy to construct, it will be difficult for toddlers to grasp on their own as depicted and will likely not survive very many repeat “landings” (the instructions recommend using the original as a pattern to trace and cut out a replacement). Since many parents may want to share this title at meal times, a sturdier, washable material would have been a better choice for this project.
Enjoyable propaganda. (Board book. 1-2)Pub Date: July 29, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-545-53368-3
Page Count: 14
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
Pick up a copy or two for the toddlers and toddler-fans in your life.
A celebration of what it is to be 2!
Toddlerhood often gets a bad rap—just think of the phrase “terrible twos.” But in O’Leary and Klassen’s hands, 2 is anything but terrible. Two is active, capable, vocal, compassionate, thoughtful, creative, determined…whole. Two is human in this picture book, and the narration’s direct address provides affirmation of toddlers’ human complexity and dignity from one spread to the next: “Now that you are two, you are learning about yesterday, today, and tomorrow. You are forming memories and making plans.” Accompanying illustrations depict a diverse range of children, different ones on each spread, which nicely avoids having any one depiction of toddlerhood falsely stand in as universal, who engage in activities that echo or expand on the text. Playful industriousness gives way to contemplative calm or mischievous determination, embodied in the faces and postures of the children. The dialectic between art and text offers some surprises, too, as when the line “Wherever you go your baby goes, too” is paired with a picture of a child in the bathtub—not with a baby doll but with a sudsy toy T. Rex.
Pick up a copy or two for the toddlers and toddler-fans in your life. (Picture book. 2)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-77147-073-5
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Owlkids Books
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A soothing lullaby for a merbaby—or a human one.
A mermother sings her merbaby to sleep in the age-old tradition of mothers and babies.
A wealth of words and phrases related to sleep characterizes this gentle bedtime song: “hush,” “sleep,” “close your eyes and dream,” “peace,” “nap,” “rock,” “shush.” The ocean-themed vocabulary is just as rich: “foam rocker,” “wave maker,” “tide breaker,” “sea talker,” “pond wader,” “deep diver,” “shell keeper.” In furthering the enticement to sleep, promises are made: “Waves will rock you”; “Whales will sing you”; “Sea stars a soft light will bring you.” The full-bleed illustrations, done in what appears to be colored pencil, have a gentleness to them that goes hand in hand with the text, the palette employing plenty of blues as befits an ocean theme. Merbaby can be seen playing with a dolphin, swimming with an otter, racing waves with fish, enjoying a coral reef, observing a tide pool, and just swimming with its mother. In the end, goal achieved and merbaby’s eyes closed, mermother plants a kiss on ocean-tussled hair “Be your finny mother’s sleeper.” Mermother and baby have pale skin, wavy blue/black hair, and golden, fish-scale tails.
A soothing lullaby for a merbaby—or a human one. (Board book. 1-2)Pub Date: June 18, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5344-4317-4
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 25, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2019
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