With its companions, music, movement, and language development in four developmentally appropriate packages.
A multicultural cast illustrates a familiar nursery rhyme.
In successive double-page spreads, five round-faced babies each point to the appropriate toe on verso, acting out the rhyme on the opposite page, dressed as pigs, in hooded pink sleepers. “This little piggy” is always on the left while the action text is on the right. This is a vegetarian version of the song; “roast leeks” is substituted for the traditional “roast beef.” Words with musical annotation are printed on the back cover. All the babies (except the White baby who “had none”) are smiling. The light-brown–skinned tot eating roast leeks looks delighted with the meal. The babies’ brightly colored clothing stands out against uncluttered white backgrounds. Equally diverse groups of babies, with at least one wearing glasses, star in the other Baby Board Book titles that publish simultaneously. Sleeper-costumed babies play the parts of cat, cow, moon and dog in Hey Diddle Diddle. The toddler pairs playing Pat-a-Cake (in one case a trio) are interracial; one child appears to have Down syndrome. Ten Little Fingers, often used to quiet young children at the start of storytime, ends with a mixed-race pair and three stuffed animals all ready for the next story, with hands folded “just so.” In all books, children cued as Asian are presented with half-circle eyes instead of dots, as if they are closed.
With its companions, music, movement, and language development in four developmentally appropriate packages. (Board book. 6 mos.-3)Pub Date: June 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-78628-405-1
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Child's Play
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
Wow.
The stories of the births of the universe, the planet Earth, and a human child are told in this picture book.
Bauer begins with cosmic nothing: “In the dark / in the deep, deep dark / a speck floated / invisible as thought / weighty as God.” Her powerful words build the story of the creation of the universe, presenting the science in poetic free verse. First, the narrative tells of the creation of stars by the Big Bang, then the explosions of some of those stars, from which dust becomes the matter that coalesces into planets, then the creation of life on Earth: a “lucky planet…neither too far / nor too near…its yellow star…the Sun.” Holmes’ digitally assembled hand-marbled paper-collage illustrations perfectly pair with the text—in fact the words and illustrations become an inseparable whole, as together they both delineate and suggest—the former telling the story and the latter, with their swirling colors suggestive of vast cosmos, contributing the atmosphere. It’s a stunning achievement to present to readers the factual events that created the birth of the universe, the planet Earth, and life on Earth with such an expressive, powerful creativity of words paired with illustrations so evocative of the awe and magic of the cosmos. But then the story goes one brilliant step further and gives the birth of a child the same beginning, the same sense of magic, the same miracle.
Wow. (Picture book. 3-8)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-7636-7883-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
A boon for beaver storytimes or young naturalists living near beaver streams.
Readers learn about a keystone species and the habitat they create.
In a “House That Jack Built” style (though minus the cumulative repetition), Sonenshine introduces children to beavers. Beginning with a beaver who’s just gnawed down a willow near their lodge, the author moves on to the dam that blocks the stream and protects their domed home and then to the yearlings that are working to repair it with sticks and mud. Muskrats and a musk turtle take advantage of the safety of the beavers’ lodge, while Coyote tries (and fails) to breach it. Then the book turns to other animals that enjoy the benefits of the pond the beavers have created: goose, ducklings, heron, moose. While the beavers aren’t in all these illustrations, evidence of them is. And then suddenly a flood takes out both the dam and the beavers’ lodge. So, the beavers move upstream to find a new spot to dam and build again, coming full circle back to the beginning of the book. Hunter’s ink-and–colored pencil illustrations have a scratchy style that is well suited to the beavers’ pelts, their watery surroundings, and the other animals that share their habitat. Careful observers will be well rewarded by the tiny details. Beavers are mostly nocturnal, which isn’t always faithfully depicted by Hunter. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A boon for beaver storytimes or young naturalists living near beaver streams. (beaver facts, glossary, further resources) (Informational picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5362-1868-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2022
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