Readers will want to revisit this visually and textually lively, tactile story over and over again. (Board book. 1-3)
Find Fuzzy Penguin on every page of this delightfully teeming book.
Fuzzy Penguin lives in Antarctica with her penguin friends, penguin family, and a small host of other fascinating creatures, such as whales and seals. Follow Fuzzy through her adventures playing with her friends, waiting for eggs to hatch, swimming in the cold ocean, and, finally, falling asleep at night. If readers want to know what Fuzzy is specifically doing in each panorama, though, they will have to search carefully by either feeling the page until they find her velvety, textured body or scanning for her three-feather topknot. On each spread of this board book, rhyming text tells a short, pithy story about what Fuzzy is doing with her penguin friends and family. The cartoon drawings are filled with action and detail, lending themselves to additional scrutiny and storytelling. Readers will enjoy running their hands across the pages until they feel Fuzzy’s soft body—and, for those with more-advanced reading comprehension, using the clues in the text to locate Fuzzy’s exact spot on the page. The use of repeated onomatopoeia such as “Crack, crack, crack! Scratch, scratch, scratch!” is not only a lot of fun to read aloud, but also an invitation for children to quickly memorize the text and “read” along.
Readers will want to revisit this visually and textually lively, tactile story over and over again. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-53802-1
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A pleasant holiday spent with a perfectly charming character.
One of Boynton's signature characters celebrates Halloween.
It's Halloween time, and Pookie the pig is delighted. Mom helps the little porker pick out the perfect Halloween costume, a process that spans the entire board book. Using an abcb rhyme scheme, Boynton dresses Pookie in a series of cheerful costumes, including a dragon, a bunny, and even a caped superhero. Pookie eventually settles on the holiday classic, a ghost, by way of a bedsheet. Boynton sprinkles in amusing asides to her stanzas as Pookie offers costume commentary ("It's itchy"; "It's hot"; "I feel silly"). Little readers will enjoy the notion of transforming themselves with their own Halloween costumes while reading this book, and a few parents may get some ideas as well. Boynton's clean, sharp illustrations are as good as ever. This is Pookie's first holiday title, but readers will surely welcome more.
A pleasant holiday spent with a perfectly charming character. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: July 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-553-51233-5
Page Count: 18
Publisher: Robin Corey/Random
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The small size, a predictable winter adventure, and Boynton’s very toddlerlike character make this a fine stocking stuffer...
Seven years after Little Pookie (2011) first appeared, this popular piglet is finally celebrating Christmas.
“Oh Pookie! Come look! It’s beginning to snow,” says a maternal-looking pig. But where did Pookie go? Past the Christmas tree, to put on a snowsuit of course. Pookie’s ever cheerful mama is willing to go out too. After all, “It’s a magical time to be walking with you.” When she observes, “Our noses are frozen. It’s time to go in,” Pookie protests in typical toddler style: “But I’m not c-c-c-cold!” The next three pages highlight indoor holiday preparations—making paper garlands, baking and decorating cookies. The rhyming text mirrors the spare illustrations. A spidery type that emulates handwriting makes it clear when Pookie is speaking. Then “the doorbell is ringing. / Our family and friends have arrived for the singing.” The second-to-last spread shows Pookie, mama, and six other pigs—and Boynton’s requisite chicken—singing (“Con brio”), “MER-RY CHRIST-MAS! MER-RY CHRIST-MAS! AND A HAP-PY NEW YEAR!” Conveniently, this text is placed beneath the musical notation. Finally Pookie hangs a stocking and goes off to bed without any fuss, anticipating presents on Christmas morning.
The small size, a predictable winter adventure, and Boynton’s very toddlerlike character make this a fine stocking stuffer or an ideal Christmas Eve read to share with other little piggies. (Board book. 18 mos.-3)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5344-3724-1
Page Count: 18
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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