Because putting a toddler to bed isn’t just an art—it’s fine art.
Art, poetry, and peekaboo are a winning combination in this bedtime board-book diversion.
Authors Appel and Guglielmo present six great works of art accompanied by rhymed text that sounds like Goodnight Moon outtakes, organized around themes of nighttime and sleep. The titular Starry Night in question, for example, is Vincent van Gogh’s famous explosion of luminescent yellows against a field of swirling blues and black: “Goodnight glowing moon up high… / Goodnight stars. Goodnight sky.” Subsequent rhymes and artwork are presented in four-page increments—one line of verse against a constellation-filled background facing a solid field of color with a die-cut hole and an inviting “Peek-a-boo, baby,” for example, or “Peek-a-boo, moon!” Turning the page reveals the second half of the rhyme on verso and, on recto, the full painting previewed in the peekaboo frame a page earlier. Other featured works are Berthe Morisot’s The Cradle, Henri Rousseau’s The Sleeping Gypsy, Franz Marc’s The White Cat, Diego Rivera’s Delfina and Dimas, and van Gogh’s The Bedroom. The peekaboo pages break the flow of the rhyme scheme a bit, and one could argue the relative merits of less peekaboo and more artwork, but children will no doubt enjoy the game of preview-and-reveal. Less sophisticated and ambitious than Shana Gozansky’s My Art Book of Sleep (2019) but well worthwhile.
Because putting a toddler to bed isn’t just an art—it’s fine art. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-32498-3
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
A gentle outing for children who are ready for stories of everyday life rather than just objects to name.
A brief rhyming board book for toddlers.
Spurr's earlier board books (In the Garden and At the Beach, both 2012; In the Woods, 2013) featured an adventuresome little boy. Her new slice-of-life story stars an equally joyful little girl who takes pleasure in flying a new kite while not venturing far off the walkway. Oliphant's expressive and light-filled watercolors clearly depict the child's emotions—eager excitement on the way to the park, delight at the kite's flight in the wind, shock when the kite breaks free, dejection, and finally relief and amazement. The rhymes work, though uneven syllable counts in some stanzas interrupt the smooth flow of the verse. The illustrations depict the child with her mass of windblown curls, brown skin, and pronounced facial features as African-American. Her guardian (presumably her mother) is also brown-skinned. It is refreshing to see an African-American family settled comfortably in a suburban setting with single-family homes and a park where the family dog does not need to be leashed.
A gentle outing for children who are ready for stories of everyday life rather than just objects to name. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-56145-854-7
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
The joys of counting combine with pretty art and homage to Goodnight Moon.
This bedtime book offers simple rhymes, celebrates the numbers one through 10, and encourages the counting of objects.
Each double-page spread shows a different toddler-and-caregiver pair, with careful attention to different skin tones, hair types, genders, and eye shapes. The pastel palette and soft, rounded contours of people and things add to the sleepy litany of the poems, beginning with “Goodnight, one fork. / Goodnight, one spoon. / Goodnight, one bowl. / I’ll see you soon.” With each number comes a different part in a toddler’s evening routine, including dinner, putting away toys, bathtime, and a bedtime story. The white backgrounds of the pages help to emphasize the bold representations of the numbers in both written and numerical forms. Each spread gives multiple opportunities to practice counting to its particular number; for example, the page for “four” includes four bottles of shampoo and four inlaid dots on a stool—beyond the four objects mentioned in the accompanying rhyme. Each home’s décor, and the array and types of toys and accoutrements within, shows a decidedly upscale, Western milieu. This seems compatible with the patronizing author’s note to adults, which accuses “the media” of indoctrinating children with fear of math “in our country.” Regardless, this sweet treatment of numbers and counting may be good prophylaxis against math phobia.
The joys of counting combine with pretty art and homage to Goodnight Moon. (Picture book. 2-4)Pub Date: March 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-101-93378-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2016
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