BIG RED BARN

Name: BIG RED BARN
Author: Carrie Love
ISBN: 978-1-4654-6313-5

by Carrie Love ; illustrated by Claire Patane & Elaine Hewson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 5, 2017

With only five double-page spreads, the book may feel on the pricey side, but little fingers will enjoy opening these...

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Matt the Cat searches for a little gray mouse in five locations on the farm in this lift-the-flap offering with an embedded sound chip.

Matt looks for breakfast in the stable, pigsty, duck pond, and cowshed with no success. In each of these encounters, Matt poses the query “Have you seen a little gray mouse?” via speech bubble. Readers can lift up the flap in each double-page scene to reveal a horse, piglets, a duck with four ducklings, and a cow with calf respectively. On the final two-page spread, Matt finds the mouse in the henhouse cooking his breakfast and not, to everyone’s relief, becoming breakfast. When each flap and the sliding panel on the cover are opened, light-activated sensors trigger the sound chip enclosed in the back cover, and each animal makes it signature sound. The back page, which includes a small compartment to replace the battery, encourages readers to use the book in good light or the sound chip won’t activate. In true DK fashion, clear photos of each featured animal encourage recognition. All the backgrounds, along with Matt, the mouse, and a few farm accessories, are drawn in simple and bright two-dimensional cartoons.

With only five double-page spreads, the book may feel on the pricey side, but little fingers will enjoy opening these playfully noisy flaps as long as the battery holds out—or as long as their caregivers can take it. (Board book. 1-3)

Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-4654-6313-5

Page Count: 12

Publisher: DK Publishing

Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2018

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

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SMILE, POUT-POUT FISH

by Deborah Diesen ; illustrated by Dan Hanna ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 7, 2014

An upbeat early book on feelings with a simple storyline that little ones will respond to.

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This simplified version of Diesen and Hanna’s The Pout-Pout Fish (2008) is appropriate for babies and toddlers.

Brief, rhyming text tells the story of a sullen fish cheered up with a kiss. A little pink sea creature pokes his head out of a hole in the sea bottom to give the gloomy fish some advice: “Smile, Mr. Fish! / You look so down // With your glum-glum face / And your pout-pout frown.” He explains that there’s no reason to be worried, scared, sad or mad and concludes: “How about a smooch? / And a cheer-up wish? // Now you look happy: / What a smile, Mr. Fish!” Simple and sweet, this tale offers the lesson that sometimes, all that’s needed for a turnaround in mood is some cheer and encouragement to change our perspective. The clean, uncluttered illustrations are kept simple, except for the pout-pout fish’s features, which are delightfully expressive. Little ones will easily recognize and likely try to copy the sad, scared and angry looks that cross the fish’s face.

An upbeat early book on feelings with a simple storyline that little ones will respond to. (Board book. 1-3)

Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2014

ISBN: 978-0-374-37084-8

Page Count: 12

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2014

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
THE WORRY-WORRY WHALE AND THE CLASSROOM JITTERS
by Deborah Diesen ; illustrated by Dan Hanna

- BOOK REVIEW
POUT-POUT FISH
by Deborah Diesen ; illustrated by Dan Hanna

- BOOK REVIEW
THE POUT-POUT FISH AND THE MAD, MAD DAY
by Deborah Diesen ; illustrated by Dan Hanna

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MERRY CHRISTMAS, LITTLE POOKIE

by Sandra Boynton ; illustrated by Sandra Boynton ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 18, 2018

The small size, a predictable winter adventure, and Boynton’s very toddlerlike character make this a fine stocking stuffer...

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Seven years after Little Pookie (2011) first appeared, this popular piglet is finally celebrating Christmas.

“Oh Pookie! Come look! It’s beginning to snow,” says a maternal-looking pig. But where did Pookie go? Past the Christmas tree, to put on a snowsuit of course. Pookie’s ever cheerful mama is willing to go out too. After all, “It’s a magical time to be walking with you.” When she observes, “Our noses are frozen. It’s time to go in,” Pookie protests in typical toddler style: “But I’m not c-c-c-cold!” The next three pages highlight indoor holiday preparations—making paper garlands, baking and decorating cookies. The rhyming text mirrors the spare illustrations. A spidery type that emulates handwriting makes it clear when Pookie is speaking. Then “the doorbell is ringing. / Our family and friends have arrived for the singing.” The second-to-last spread shows Pookie, mama, and six other pigs—and Boynton’s requisite chicken—singing (“Con brio”), “MER-RY CHRIST-MAS! MER-RY CHRIST-MAS! AND A HAP-PY NEW YEAR!” Conveniently, this text is placed beneath the musical notation. Finally Pookie hangs a stocking and goes off to bed without any fuss, anticipating presents on Christmas morning.

The small size, a predictable winter adventure, and Boynton’s very toddlerlike character make this a fine stocking stuffer or an ideal Christmas Eve read to share with other little piggies. (Board book. 18 mos.-3)