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WHERE IS FUZZY PENGUIN?

Name: WHERE IS FUZZY PENGUIN?
Author: Yayo Kawamura
ISBN: 978-1-338-53802-1

illustrated by Yayo Kawamura ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 5, 2019

Readers will want to revisit this visually and textually lively, tactile story over and over again. (Board book. 1-3)

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

- BOOK REVIEW
WHO IS AFRAID OF LITTLE WOLF?
by Yayo Kawamura ; illustrated by Yayo Kawamura

- BOOK REVIEW
PLAY HIDE-AND-SEEK WITH PEPE & MILLIE
by Yayo Kawamura ; illustrated by Yayo Kawamura

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SMILE, POUT-POUT FISH

by Deborah Diesen ; illustrated by Dan Hanna ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 7, 2014

An upbeat early book on feelings with a simple storyline that little ones will respond to.

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
THE WORRY-WORRY WHALE AND THE CLASSROOM JITTERS
by Deborah Diesen ; illustrated by Dan Hanna

- BOOK REVIEW
POUT-POUT FISH
by Deborah Diesen ; illustrated by Dan Hanna

- BOOK REVIEW
THE POUT-POUT FISH AND THE MAD, MAD DAY
by Deborah Diesen ; illustrated by Dan Hanna

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MERRY CHRISTMAS, LITTLE POOKIE

by Sandra Boynton ; illustrated by Sandra Boynton ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 18, 2018

The small size, a predictable winter adventure, and Boynton’s very toddlerlike character make this a fine stocking stuffer...

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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)