A miniodyssey, familiar but elemental, and played out amid plenty of smiles and pop-ups.
An aquatic take on the ever-popular “Are you my mother?” plotline, weak in the natural-history department but fully cozy.
After Mama Frog lays her eggs in some “seaweed” she finds in her pond and goes off to find a lily pad for a home, five big-eyed tadpoles hatch and go in search of her. As they don’t know what she looks like, they accost Mama Duck, Mama Fish, Mama Crab and others. All of these mothers, rather than eat the tadpoles as many would do in real life, indulgently send them along with different descriptions of their real mama. Working with a palette of harmonious greens and grays, Hung crafts serene-looking pondscapes that open with tabs and lifted flaps into spacious, layered tableaux. When Mama Frog’s ribbits lead at last to a joyful meeting, her offspring’s first question is not, considering the storyline, the natural one about why they don’t look anything like her. Instead, they ask her to teach them her froggy song. She promises that once they do change to frogs, “we will sing ‘ribbit, ribbit’ together, all day and night!”
A miniodyssey, familiar but elemental, and played out amid plenty of smiles and pop-ups. (Pop-up/picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: April 9, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4197-0718-6
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Abrams Appleseed
Review Posted Online: Sept. 24, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2013
An amusing introduction to the long-standing diversion of hide-and-seek books.
A young bear learns the nuance of blending into a crowd when playing a game of hide-and-seek.
Much like any naïve 3-year-old, Fergus, a brown bear with round, black eyeglasses, must first understand the concept of hiding. Whether out in the open or next to or behind a slender tree, Fergus is told he is easily found and must try again. The continual voice of the speaker is that of a kind, patient instructor as Fergus follows directions, presents various choices for hiding places, and works to improve strategy. “We’re going to help you,” says the narrator. “Start by hiding in a crowd.” In a group of small squirrels and rabbits, Fergus easily stands out, as he also does in crowds of large elephants or polar bears. Hiding among moose while sporting tree-branch antlers doesn’t quite do it either. Finally, Fergus, willing to keep at it, is able to successfully find concealment among a bunch of brown bears wearing a variety of facial expressions. Simple, black-line drawings augment Fergus’ efforts through each encouraging directive. Having mastered the idea, Fergus then hides within a large, diversified animal crowd splayed across a double gatefold to create a Where’s Waldo–like challenge featuring all the previous characters together. For the ultimate seek-and-find activity Fergus then challenges readers to search within the gatefold for a long list of items. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-17-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size; double gatefold viewed at 50% of actual size.)
An amusing introduction to the long-standing diversion of hide-and-seek books. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Nov. 3, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-984849-02-1
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An ideal choice for sharing with preschoolers and anyone else who has a soft spot for lovable but goofy dads.
Here is an unabashed celebration of dads who enthusiastically embrace their inner children. The results are endearing, sometimes embarrassing but most often hilarious.
Parker invites readers to witness the following silly behavior: “When dads don’t grow up / they understand that shopping carts are for racing… / that clothes don’t have to match… / and that pancakes weren't meant to be round.” Alley uses pen and ink, watercolors and colored pencil to show an abundance of humorous details in a series of vignettes that greatly extend the text. A stern grocery-store manager glares at dad and daughter sitting in the wreckage of their shopping-cart race; a professorial dad lectures in a mad combination of stripes, argyle and plaid. Preschoolers will see themselves and, one hopes, their fathers in the madcap situations that populate this title. Whether finding fun in popping bubble wrap, throwing stones in water, playing sports indoors or “getting their hair wet (if they still have any),” the four ethnically and occupationally diverse dads—a florist, a doctor, a businessman and a construction worker—obviously relish these experiences as much as their children do.
An ideal choice for sharing with preschoolers and anyone else who has a soft spot for lovable but goofy dads. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: March 15, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3717-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2012
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