Along with a set of nesting dolls, this sweet book would be a wonderful gift for a special child.
This die-cut board book inspired by the Russian matryoshka has doll-shaped cardboard pages, with each page turning downward to present the next, slightly larger “nesting” sibling.
The five sisters have similar faces, each with a sweet smile and a shawl on her head, and each one has distinctly colored hair, eyes, and body, though all are white. The single sentence of text set on each sister names her and her hobby or personality—“Larissa is the performer”; “Masha is the collector”—and retro-styled illustrations on the fronts and backs of their bodies echo their passions. Olya the chef is depicted with pots, pans, spoons, measuring cups, and whisks, while nature-loving Galya is depicted with various fauna and flora. Young children will be delighted to discover that the pages don’t turn the traditional way, but the illustrations at the back of each sister show upside down, which could be difficult for younger kids. Although the cardboard pages are sturdy and they are held together with reinforced binding tape, whether this book as a whole is tough enough for repeated use is not clear, but it is of obvious interest to those with Russian heritage.
Along with a set of nesting dolls, this sweet book would be a wonderful gift for a special child. (Novelty board book. 1-3)Pub Date: March 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4521-5159-5
Page Count: 10
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Guess how much you’ll be reading this.
Parent and child share a day of small adventures and cozy snuggles.
That the two happen to be tortoises is totally beside the point. Die-cut holes and shaped edges turn nearly every page flip into a surprise. Following a parental “Good morning, Baby” to greet the youngling’s “Wake up, wake up, I want to play… / The sun is up, it’s a brand new day!” the two reptiles ramble off to munch on leaves, weather a sudden rain shower, discover a flock of butterflies, climb a hill, watch the moon rise, and, at last, weary little one perched on top, settle down to snooze again. The paper engineering is ingenious. Turning a seemingly arbitrarily shaped page with a special window framing a pink butterfly fills the spread with many jewel-toned insects; even though the tortoises never change position, the scene is completely transformed. Hegarty’s rhymed narrative features lots of tender sentiments—“Wherever you are, wherever you go, / Baby, I’ll always love you so”—while steering clear of any gender references. In Elliott’s peaceful, grassy settings the wanderers’ small smiles and shared glances likewise create a sense of loving intimacy. This is likely to become a victim of its own appeal, being as the paper stock is rather too flimsy to survive much contact with toddler hands. Still, a clear winner for sharing with audiences of one or dozens.
Guess how much you’ll be reading this. (Novelty. 18 mos.-3)Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7282-3509-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2021
Not a great choice for the youngest dinosaur lovers.
A board-book ode to parental love as old as the dinosaurs.
A line of text on the left of each spread reads like a dinosaur-themed valentine that a third grader might choose, with punishingly punny wordplay that incorporates dinosaur-related words. On the facing page a dinosaur pair—a baby and an adult—gaze lovingly into each other’s eyes against whimsical, pastel-hued prehistoric-ish backgrounds. In smaller print, in all caps, at the bottom of the left page is the scientific name for the dinosaur referenced by the text and picture followed by a helpful phonetic pronunciation guide. White-outlined footprints appear next to their names, though the white is sometimes difficult to see against the pastel pages. Ten of the best-known dinosaurs are included. Twisting the dinosaur names to fit the loving sentiments succeeds some of the time but more often results in tortured text, well beyond the understanding of the board book audience. The line accompanying two hugging velociraptors, for instance, is just confusing: “Wrap-TOR arms around me, / with you I’ll always stay.” Others are just plain clumsy: “I-wanna-GUANODON you kisses, / I truly just adore you.” Very young children, even those fascinated by dinosaurs, will not get it. Older dinosaur fans will be put off by the babyish format.
Not a great choice for the youngest dinosaur lovers. (Board book. 18 mos.-3)Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7282-2295-0
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
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