A beguiling tale that will please children and the parents who want them to sleep.
An embodied yawn wreaks gentle havoc on a world up past its bedtime in this picture book.
This third installment of Hardy’s Jake series begins with the eruption of a mighty yawn from the eponymous fluffy white dog, who is made drowsy by too much popcorn and the stultifying TV game show Feline Feud. In semicorporeal form as a nebulous, cherubic figure, the yawn wafts out a window and visits other domiciles. A family of squirrels cooking acorn soup is rendered bleary-eyed, while a bevy of bunnies playing checkers is made sleepy enough for the yawn to pilfer some carrot slices. Avoiding truck drivers, the yawn moves on to a pod of lizards watching insect videos and finally beds down as the whole town starts snoring. Hardy builds the slender narrative from simple, repetitive plot points couched in winsome verse—“He zoomed and loomed floating down the whole block; no one is safe for it’s now yawn o’clock!”—that youngsters will remember. LL’s illustrations are captivating, with a varied palette that ranges from bright pastels to nighttime greens. Her compositions are sprinkled with witty details—one squirrel is reading The Efficient Nutcracker—and her drawings ably convey the cuteness of yawning critters. The story is catchy and whimsical while cannily exploiting the implacable infectiousness of the yawning instinct; those in search of an effective device for putting to bed a 4-year-old will love it.
A beguiling tale that will please children and the parents who want them to sleep.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-956211-06-1
Page Count: 34
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own...
The sturdy Little Blue Truck is back for his third adventure, this time delivering Christmas trees to his band of animal pals.
The truck is decked out for the season with a Christmas wreath that suggests a nose between headlights acting as eyeballs. Little Blue loads up with trees at Toad’s Trees, where five trees are marked with numbered tags. These five trees are counted and arithmetically manipulated in various ways throughout the rhyming story as they are dropped off one by one to Little Blue’s friends. The final tree is reserved for the truck’s own use at his garage home, where he is welcomed back by the tree salestoad in a neatly circular fashion. The last tree is already decorated, and Little Blue gets a surprise along with readers, as tiny lights embedded in the illustrations sparkle for a few seconds when the last page is turned. Though it’s a gimmick, it’s a pleasant surprise, and it fits with the retro atmosphere of the snowy country scenes. The short, rhyming text is accented with colored highlights, red for the animal sounds and bright green for the numerical words in the Christmas-tree countdown.
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own tree that will put a twinkle in a toddler’s eyes. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-32041-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
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Beloved Little Blue takes a bit of the mystery—and fear—out of Halloween costumes.
A lift-the-flap book gives the littlest trick-or-treaters some practice identifying partygoers under their costumes.
Little Blue Truck and his buddy Toad are off to a party, and they invite readers (and a black cat) along for the ride: “ ‘Beep! Beep! Beep!’ / says Little Blue. / ‘It’s Halloween!’ / You come, too.” As they drive, they are surprised (and joined) by many of their friends in costume. “Who’s that in a tutu / striking a pose / up on the tiniest / tips of her toes? / Under the mask / who do you see?” Lifting the flap unmasks a friend: “ ‘Quack!’ says the duck. / ‘It’s me! It’s me!’ ” The sheep is disguised as a clown, the cow’s a queen, the pig’s a witch, the hen and her chick are pirates, and the horse is a dragon. Not to be left out, Little Blue has a costume, too. The flaps are large and sturdy, and enough of the animals’ characteristic features are visible under and around the costumes that little ones will be able to make successful guesses even on the first reading. Lovely curvy shapes and autumn colors fade to dusky blues as night falls, and children are sure to notice the traditional elements of a Halloween party: apple bobbing, lit jack-o’-lanterns, and punch and treats.
Beloved Little Blue takes a bit of the mystery—and fear—out of Halloween costumes. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: July 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-544-77253-3
Page Count: 16
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
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