Readers are unlikely to want all 19 titles in the set, but one or two are fun for the moment.
A cute novelty element encourages caregiver-child interaction.
A finger poked through the opening at the back of the book makes an orange kitten puppet’s head emerge from a die-cut circle on each page. The built-in finger puppet is securely anchored on the back page. All the pages are extra thick to withstand the rough handling this toy disguised as a book may inspire. The ears of the kitten don’t automatically fit through the opening, so if multiple pages are turned by accident, it’s difficult to fit the kitten’s head back through to correct the mistake. This problem is even more pronounced in companion title Baby Goat because of the goat’s long ears. With each page turn the kitten’s lengthening neck becomes increasingly out of proportion with the rest of his body. The slight storyline follows the kitten through a busy day, beginning with waking up and ending with “Sweet dreams.” The text suggests an action for the finger puppet, as in “When Baby Kitten is happy, he makes a low purring sound.” Unfortunately, the next behavior—licking his fur “clean with his tongue”—is impossible to execute. Still, the finger puppet serves it purpose: to get caregivers to pause and play with words and sounds as they read to their very young children.
Readers are unlikely to want all 19 titles in the set, but one or two are fun for the moment. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Feb. 11, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4521-8172-1
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 25, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
A sweet if uneven expression of parents’ love for babies.
A love song to baby.
Rhyming verse expresses animal parents’ love for their little ones and is accompanied by cartoon-style illustrations of animal families rendered in bold colors and rounded forms. The succinct text pairs nicely with the spare art style, which offers uncluttered spreads focused on the parent-and-child interactions. “You’re everything FRESH, / the morning’s first dew,” reads one spread, for example, which is illustrated with a picture of a panda cub standing on top of its prone parent while reaching for a dewdrop falling from a branch. Behind them, a blue background is warmed by a huge, yellow semicircle representing the rising sun. Other animal families occupy other pages, so there’s no sequential storyline to speak of, but the text as a whole is framed by an opening spread depicting crocodile parents waiting for their (very large) egg to hatch, and hatch it does in the closing spread, which reads, “You’re every wish answered, / our hearts, how they grew… / every day countless, / everything you.” While the sentiment here is heartfelt, this use of “every day countless” is one example of several instances when word choices undermine clarity.
A sweet if uneven expression of parents’ love for babies. (Picture book. 1-3)Pub Date: Dec. 5, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-374-30141-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2017
Sweet—but more for adults than children.
A doting pair of adult bears follows a baby bear through a busy day.
These fully engaged caregivers are clearly awed by the little cub, starting with “You’re the morning sunshine” and ending with “you sleep so peacefully / beneath the twinkling stars.” In between, the baby bear paints a picture, sings with one adult, tickles with the other, drinks cocoa, takes a walk and flies a kite, rides a bike, and is playfully swung in the air before a bath. Much of the action is communicated only by the pictures. The tender rhyming verses focus on the wonder of familial love. Every other stanza ends with the refrain: “This world of ours is full of love / when you are here with me.” Curiously, although this cub has two present, caregiving adults, the narrative, presumably addressed to the child, uses the first-person singular. The baby bear is presented as gender-neutral, first in orange-and-green polka-dot pajamas and then in blue jeans with a white shirt graced with yellow ducks. Although neither adult bear is gendered in the text, the illustrations use stereotypical cues: One wears a yellow dress decorated with hearts; the other wears a striped shirt (and no trousers). No one can miss that the baby bear is the adults’ little darling.
Sweet—but more for adults than children. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Dec. 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-68010-603-9
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: Dec. 17, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
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