Despite the brevity of the text, the humor embedded in the illustrations will engage even adults, who will doubtless be...
Find a baby and play together with this board book geared to the attention spans of very young children.
Simple uncluttered layouts provide focus. Both this title and the co-published I Get Dressed use animal characters and vocabulary introduced in McPhail's My Mother Goose (2013), making them rare successful board-book adaptations of previously published picture books. As the title suggests, I Get Dressed names items of clothing while this offering reinforces action verbs. McPhail's bear walks with purpose, jumps for joy, and finally is quietly engrossed in reading. With just one word per page, even the youngest children will soon follow suit. Although the animals in I Get Dressed are just as whimsical, it is somewhat less satisfying, perhaps because different animals are used on each page, and the vocabulary concepts are more difficult. Even the animals look bemused to find themselves wearing clothes. The praying mantis wearing gloves is a delightful surprise, however. No one would trust the sly snake wearing that salesman's tie or, for that matter, a fox wearing a dress. McPhail knows and respects children. He manages to draw anthropomorphic animals without making them nauseatingly cute.
Despite the brevity of the text, the humor embedded in the illustrations will engage even adults, who will doubtless be asked to “read it again.” (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: July 28, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-62672-147-0
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
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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