This book has virtually nothing going for it.
A polar bear looks for a friend.
None of the arctic foxes want to play with Teddy the polar bear. He tries searching underwater for a friend, to no avail. He doesn’t find one until he hears the splashing of a creature that’s fallen through the ice, which he somehow knows just from the sound is a female—perhaps it was a feminine splash? Teddy jumps to the rescue, and the book comes to a fairly perfunctory end. The big draw are the sliding tabs that open and close Teddy’s jaws on each spread. Little readers can make Teddy talk, cry, chomp, and smile. In a design flaw that must be unintended, Teddy’s gaping mouth unsettlingly frames the unfortunate polar bear who’s fallen through the ice, causing little readers to think perhaps that he is eating her. The sliding panels are more durable than most, but children with a habit of destroying flaps and tabs in board books will slowly wear these out as well. The illustrations are bland, with a white, gray, and blue color scheme that makes every page feel a bit ho-hum. The text is devoid of rhyme or flourish, plainly describing the events as they unfold with little flair. Feminist readers will grind their own teeth at the hoary damsel-in-distress plotline.
This book has virtually nothing going for it. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4998-0345-7
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Little Bee Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Perfect for Valentine’s Day, but the syrupy sweetness will cloy after the holiday.
Animal parents declare their love for their offspring in alphabetical order.
Each page displays an enormous capital letter, one line of verse with the keyword capitalized, and a loving nonhuman parent gazing adoringly at their baby. “A is for Always. I always love you more. / B is for Butterfly kisses. It’s you that I adore.” While not named or labelled as such, the A is also for an alligator and its hatchling and B is for a butterfly and a butterfly child (not a caterpillar—biology is not the aim of this title) interacting in some way with the said letter. For E there are an elephant and a calf; U features a unicorn and foal; and X, keyed to the last letter of the animal’s name, corresponds to a fox and three pups. The final double-page spread shows all the featured creatures and their babies as the last line declares: “Baby, I love you from A to Z!” The verse is standard fare and appropriately sentimental. The art is cartoony-cute and populated by suitably loving critters on solid backgrounds. Hearts accent each scene, but the theme of the project is never in any doubt.
Perfect for Valentine’s Day, but the syrupy sweetness will cloy after the holiday. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-7282-2095-6
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2021
Leave the hopping to Peter Cottontail and sing the original song instead.
An Easter-themed board-book parody of the traditional nursery rhyme.
Unfortunately, this effort is just as sugary and uninspired as The Itsy Bitsy Snowman, offered by the same pair in 2015. A cheerful white bunny hops through a pastel world to distribute candy and treats for Easter but spills his baskets. A hedgehog, fox, mouse, and various birds come to the bunny’s rescue, retrieving the candy, helping to devise a distribution plan, and hiding the eggs. Then magically, they all fly off in a hot air balloon as the little animals in the village emerge to find the treats. Without any apparent purpose, the type changes color to highlight some words. For very young children every word is new, so highlighting “tiny tail” or “friends” makes no sense. Although the text is meant to be sung, the words don't quite fit the rhythm of the original song. Moreover, there are not clear motions to accompany the text; without the fingerplay movements, this book has none of the satisfying verve of the traditional version.
Leave the hopping to Peter Cottontail and sing the original song instead. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-5621-0
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
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