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DAYTIME NIGHTTIME

Name: DAYTIME NIGHTTIME
Author: William Low
ISBN: 978-0-8050-9751-1

by William Low ; illustrated by William Low ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 13, 2014

Calm and soothing—a nonthreatening backyard adventure

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An extremely simple text describes animals a rural child might see in the daytime and nighttime.

Except for a prefatory “What you see in the daytime?” (and a corresponding query for nighttime), the text rarely exceeds one word per spread. In the daytime, a child (a relatively light-skinned little girl with long hair and bangs) might see butterflies, robins, bumblebees, grasshoppers, red-tailed hawks, beavers, rabbits and puppies (as well as the sun). Spread by spread, Low’s painterly digital illustrations depict the animals described (in most cases, just one of each, despite consistently plural labels). A robin tugs at a worm; a grasshopper perches on a blade of grass; a red-tailed hawk soars, silhouetted against a blue sky. Nighttime animals include fireflies, bats, an owl, a frog, raccoons and teddy bears (the child is seen slumbering with an obviously beloved bear clutched in her arms, other stuffed animals gazing benignly from the margin of her bed). Except for the potential confusion between plural labels and singular animals and the fact that the bumblebee as depicted doesn’t look as satisfyingly round as children likely imagine them, it’s a lovely way to introduce children to the natural world, reminiscent of some of Jim Arnosky’s books for the very youngest children.

Calm and soothing—a nonthreatening backyard adventure . (Picture book. 2-4)

Pub Date: May 13, 2014

ISBN: 978-0-8050-9751-1

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Henry Holt

Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

- BOOK REVIEW
WELCOME TO CHINATOWN
by William Low ; illustrated by William Low

- BOOK REVIEW
THE SINKING OF THE <i>VASA</i>
by Russell Freedman ; illustrated by William Low

- BOOK REVIEW
FEATHERED DINOSAURS
by Brenda Z. Guiberson ; illustrated by William Low

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A KISSING HAND FOR CHESTER RACCOON

From the Kissing Hand series

by Audrey Penn ; illustrated by Barbara L. Gibson ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2014

Parents of toddlers starting school or day care should seek separation-anxiety remedies elsewhere, and fans of the original...

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
CHESTER RACCOON AND THE ALMOST PERFECT SLEEPOVER
by Audrey Penn ; illustrated by Barbara L. Gibson

- BOOK REVIEW
KAI TO THE RESCUE!
by Audrey Penn ; illustrated by Mike Yamada

- BOOK REVIEW
A COLOR GAME FOR CHESTER RACCOON
by Audrey Penn & illustrated by Barbara L. Gibson

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FIVE BLACK CATS

by Patricia Hegarty ; illustrated by Julia Woolf ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2013

For toddlers unafraid of typical Halloween imagery.

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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)