Cute but no more than serviceable
Sliding board-book panels illustrate six different animal habitats.
Frost’s colorful, cartoonish critters feature in a guessing game. A question appears on one page: “Who is in the flowerbed, digging up the ground?” In the busy illustration, a rabbit, a cat, or even the worms could be digging. The page opposite each question expands to display the rhymed response and a full image of the heretofor partially hidden animal. (In the garden scene it is a spotted yellow pup.) The sliding pages line up perfectly when closed, but the animals don’t always line up properly when opened. The dolphin seems to be detached from its tail, and the lamb’s back legs connect to its body at an awkward angle. The cadence of the rhymes is sometimes forced, with words chosen because they rhyme, not because they add information. For example, the penguin says, “Cheep cheep cheep!” evidently because “cheep” rhymes with “deep.” Other animals to find include a tiger cub, chick, and bear cub. Initially the sliders are quite stiff but will loosen up with use, but they may not survive the repeated tugs and pulls of inquisitive toddlers. The book’s biggest weakness is that turning the sliding-page design places every other answer on the left instead of the right. This may confuse young children who are just learning that reading (in English) requires looking from left to right.
Cute but no more than serviceable . (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-6801-0514-8
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017
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
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