Sturdier in construction than geography.
Animals play hide-and-seek.
It's time for a game of hide-and-seek, and these cold-climate animals are ready to play. The text asks readers who is hiding behind each animal, with bits of color poking out from behind cuts in the pages to act as clues. "Whose brown antlers are those?" (sticking up behind a polar bear) reveals a reindeer, "Whose cute ears are those?" (protruding from behind a fox’s rump) reveals the polar bear, and so on. The illustrations are round, soft, and colored with warm blues, oranges, browns, and reds. Pages are exceptionally thick, their shaped edges easing manipulation by little fingers. Some of the clues are easier than others, and the smallest readers won't care to think hard before turning the page to the next cute critter. Unfortunately, the inclusion of the penguin with the polar bear and reindeer reinforces the common misconception that these animals are not poles apart. Companion Who's Hiding With Tiger? is concurrently published and features jungle animals and a color palette heavier on greens and yellows; it is similarly flawed in its implication that tigers, pandas, and gorillas share a geography. These books won't be any child's favorite but will pass the time well enough.
Sturdier in construction than geography. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4521-5661-3
Page Count: 10
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 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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