O’Keefe offers a genuine book for babies that is not a board book or a gimmicky format. Rhyming text of two to four words per spread pithily describes a day with a baby bear and its parents: “Baby laugh. / Baby cry. / Baby wet. / Baby dry. Baby work is never done. / Good thing baby work is fun.” Spowart’s simple, soft-edged pastels set against white backgrounds illustrate baby playing peek-a-boo, eating in a high chair, blowing bubbles, undressing for bed and being read to by mama and papa. Blanket cozy, as tickling as counting piggy toes and as sweet as “kissy-poo,” this treat calls out for a rocking chair, a lap and a baby. These three bears are “just right” for repeated enjoyment. (Picture book. 1-3)
Pub Date: March 31, 2006
ISBN: 1-56397-981-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2006
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Leave this developmentally inappropriate title on the shelf.
A board book for the toddlers of Lake Wobegon, where all the children are above average.
As with Baby Loves Quarks! (2016) and its series companions, Spiro attempts to explain a topic too complex and abstract for toddlers. The bright-eyed brown-skinned cartoon child on the cover is inviting enough. But it’s hard to imagine the real baby who will be able to follow her example: “Baby takes three steps to the right, three steps forward, and three steps to the left.” The text can tell readers that “This pattern of steps is called an algorithm” when repeated every time the child wants to go to the toy box, but that does not mean babies can understand, much less replicate, the behavior of a computer program. As with many tech-oriented toys designed for gifted tots, a toy train is used to illustrate coding. Later pictures show other machines that rely on unseen computer code to function. There is nothing factually wrong here. And yes, parents and caregivers can follow the book’s example by inserting the language of science and coding in conversation. But 20 pages of oversimplified explanations of theoretical concepts, no matter how attractively packaged, will not translate to understanding until the child is past the concrete-operations stage of development—and even gifted toddlers just aren’t there yet.
Leave this developmentally inappropriate title on the shelf. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: June 5, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-58089-884-3
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: June 10, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
Riding high in a shopping cart, a toddler tears up the grocery store in this satisfying romp. Doyle’s short, rhyming sentences—one, two, and three words each—reflect the toddler’s developing language skills. In one full-bleed spread, mother and child shop for “Beets. / Meats. / Ham. / Peanut butter. / Jam.” Children can easily match words with pictures. Westcott’s watercolor-and-ink illustrations on “super sturdy” paper show the items on the shelf and in the cart. They also tell the back story—while mom selects a ham, the boy flings beets to the floor. In the next spread, he eats peanut butter and jelly from the jars. Behind him, customers slip and slide on errant produce. Throughout, the boy and his mother blaze a messy trail, upsetting other customers in their wake. It’s a familiar scenario, with a predicable conclusion. Little ones will love this. (Picture book. 1-3)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-7636-2218-4
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2004
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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