The novelty of the finger puppet is the slight story’s highlight.
A finger-puppet book depicts the nocturnal activities of a baby raccoon.
This very small (4.25 inches square) board book with extra-thick pages features a sewn fabric raccoon finger puppet that sticks through a circular diecut in the center of each page. This makes the raccoon’s head and neck somewhat movable on each page as the face fits into the illustrations. The puppet itself is surprisingly detailed and quite charming, with black-and-white detailing against the gray body and embroidered eyes and a nose. Readers meet Baby Raccoon at sunset and follow along on his nighttime prowl as he forages, plays, and climbs a tree. Most of the details in the book appear to be factually correct about raccoons, with the exception of its promulgation of the whimsical and widely misunderstood notion that raccoons “wash their food in the stream” before eating it. The text itself is very simple and descriptive of the action on each page, making for appropriate but not particularly exciting pacing. The progression from sunset to sunrise is clearly represented in the backgrounds. The puppet is fun, but its wide-eyed expression cannot change. That said, older infants and toddlers will enjoy engaging with the little critter as a caregiver's finger animates it. Companion titles Baby Fox and Little Love Bug follow in a similar style, though with even less adherence to fact. The nocturnal fox is shown eating and playing during the day, and the love bug is mostly a parent-child love story.
The novelty of the finger puppet is the slight story’s highlight. (Board book/novelty. 6 mos.-2)Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4521-7080-0
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
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