It gets credit for the nonfiction content but does not otherwise leap to the front of the pod.
A narwhal finger puppet accompanies related facts in this compact board book.
Similar to predecessor Baby Raccoon (2020), this small and chunky board book offers different toddler-appropriate factoids about its subject, providing exposure to relevant words such as tusk. Little listeners might be surprised to learn that narwhals communicate by clicking and how they hold their breath “for a long time!” Keeping the book short with a simple sentence or two on each page maintains a swift and age-appropriate pace. The finger puppet itself is a cute gimmick, designed more for an adult’s finger than a child’s given the thickness of the book. Aside from having a tusk, the finger puppet doesn’t resemble a real narwhal. Its light blue body and sparkly purple tusk make it more akin to a unicorn than a whale (capitalizing on unicorn popularity, perhaps). This stands in contrast to the book’s otherwise informative, nonfiction tone. The accompanying illustrations are simple, extending a painted body for the protagonist from the puppet on each spread and endowing all the normal characters with googly eyes and smiles. But while this is a nice, informational text for a younger audience with a high-interest animal as its subject, the finger puppet adds little.
It gets credit for the nonfiction content but does not otherwise leap to the front of the pod. (Board book/novelty. 1-3)Pub Date: March 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7972-0565-6
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2021
Here’s hoping Porter gets paired up with a writer equal to his visual talents.
A fox is stymied in his nocturnal prowling by a bevy of noisy barnyard animals.
As the fox prepares to snack on some chicks, their cheeping wakes the goose, whose honking disturbs the sheep, who stir the ox and so on. The frustrated fox finally gives up and goes back where he came from. Four lines of plodding verse accompany each single- or double-page spread: “And the bleats of the goats / wake up the pig, / Who oinks for attention / then proceeds to dig.” The true star here is Porter’s child-friendly folk-art–like style that employs bold, black lines filled in with rich earth- and jewel-toned colors. The paintings are produced on what looks to be wood panels, a perfect texture for the farm setting.
Here’s hoping Porter gets paired up with a writer equal to his visual talents. (Board book. 18 mos.-3)Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-57061-928-1
Page Count: 11
Publisher: Little Bigfoot/Sasquatch
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Fans of Baby Loves to Rock will get a kick out of this infant’s moves, but the humor is still too adult to pretend this is a...
A baby and a bevy of animals demonstrate a variety of dance moves.
With one sentence per page, the text is a mix of puns, jokes and rhymes that, while clever, will likely go over the heads of core board-book readers: “The apes like to orang-o-tango / and the sloths like to slow dance. // The kangaroos can boogaloo, / and the flamingo can flamenco.” Each critter mentioned is depicted in bright colors dancing in their requisite style against bold backgrounds. The goofy cartoons are not as successful as those in Kirwan’s earlier offering, Baby Loves to Rock (2013), but the tap-dancing woodpecker and the toucan doing the cancan are delightful standouts. As in the first title, a double-page spread appears at three different junctures, asking a variation of “But who loves to boogie?” in a graphic, bold display type floating in a disco setting. On the last two pages, readers learn that “Baby loves to boogie, woogie, / BOOGIE!” and three images of a Caucasian baby, likely the same child in as the companion title, bop across the page.
Fans of Baby Loves to Rock will get a kick out of this infant’s moves, but the humor is still too adult to pretend this is a book for actual babies. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: June 24, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4814-0383-2
Page Count: 30
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 9, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2014
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