This sleepy narrative doesn’t ever really wake up.
A small bird named Little Peep wants to join the other birds singing at sunrise, but he discovers that he isn’t an early riser.
As Peep flits through a delicate landscape of abstract collaged shapes, he encounters various advisers—owl, mouse, frog—who tell him that the beautiful sound he is hearing is the Dawn Chorus. Sadly, however, he has arrived too late to join in, and the glorious song is over. The conductor invites him to audition the next day, but, alas, he is too late again. Given a second chance, he gets there in time, but due to late-night practicing, all he can do is yawn. Feeling sad, he starts to sing at dusk and hears another bird singing who looks just like him. Amazed, he asks the mystery bird why he can only sing in the evening. The answer is that they are both nightingales, a European bird that only sings at night. The rather thin narrative is weakened on this side of the Atlantic by the fact that the plot hinges on the behavior of a bird that most American children will never see. Educational value is limited by the naively decorative appearance of all the birds, as the “nightingales” don’t look very much different from the other diurnal species.
This sleepy narrative doesn’t ever really wake up. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Feb. 23, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8027-3648-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
Parents of toddlers starting school or day care should seek separation-anxiety remedies elsewhere, and fans of the original...
A sweetened, condensed version of the best-selling picture book, The Kissing Hand.
As in the original, Chester Raccoon is nervous about attending Owl’s night school (raccoons are nocturnal). His mom kisses him on the paw and reminds him, “With a Kissing Hand… / We’ll never be apart.” The text boils the story down to its key elements, causing this version to feel rushed. Gone is the list of fun things Chester will get to do at school. Fans of the original may be disappointed that this board edition uses a different illustrator. Gibson’s work is equally sentimental, but her renderings are stiff and flat in comparison to the watercolors of Harper and Leak. Very young readers will probably not understand that Owl’s tree, filled with opossums, a squirrel, a chipmunk and others, is supposed to be a school.
Parents of toddlers starting school or day care should seek separation-anxiety remedies elsewhere, and fans of the original shouldn’t look to this version as replacement for their page-worn copies. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: April 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-933718-77-4
Page Count: 14
Publisher: Tanglewood Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
For toddlers unafraid of typical Halloween imagery.
A troop of cats traverse a spooky landscape as they make their way to a party hosted by ghosts.
Each double-page spread shows the felines’ encounters with the likes of an owl, jack-o’-lanterns or a bat. One or two of these creepy meetings may be too abstract for the youngest readers, as the cats hear eerie noises with no discernible source on the page. The text, which consists of one rhyming couplet per scene, mostly scans despite a couple of wobbles: “Five black cats get a bit of a scare / As the flip-flapping wings of a bat fill the air.” The sleek, slightly retro art, likely created using a computer, depicts the cats cavorting at night through a shadowy cityscape, the countryside and a haunted house; they may scare some toddlers and delight others. A brighter color palette would have given the project a friendlier, more universal appeal. Luckily, the well-lit, final party scene provides a playful conclusion.
For toddlers unafraid of typical Halloween imagery. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-58925-611-8
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: Sept. 24, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2014
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