Toddlers won’t sit still for all 16 spreads but they will come back again and again to name the objects they play with every...
Looking for suggestions for stocking a preschool toy box? Use this sturdy board book as a guide.
Common toys are organized in broad categories: cars and trucks, blocks, trains, and farm and wild animals. More whimsical categories include a dollhouse, water-play toys, things that fly, and space toys. Only “Dressing Up” includes photos of children: an Asian child playing doctor and a blond, white child proudly flexing superhero muscles. (Both have short hair.) Other dress-up costumes include a tutu, crown, pirate hat and eye patch, and clown shoes. The other spreads are gender-neutral; none of the toys are identified as being for boys or girls. Labels help expand vocabulary. For example, on the “Picnic time” page there are two teddy bears, one “sitting,” one “standing.” Several spreads invite active participation. The names of six different types of balls run across the top of that spread with colorful ribbons connecting each word to the corresponding ball. Pages devoted to art and garden tools, musical instruments, and even modeling clay may prompt caregivers to entrust their charges with these activities.
Toddlers won’t sit still for all 16 spreads but they will come back again and again to name the objects they play with every day. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4654-5677-9
Page Count: 36
Publisher: DK Publishing
Review Posted Online: April 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
An upbeat early book on feelings with a simple storyline that little ones will respond to.
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
As with many holiday gifts, the sparkly packaging may interest toddlers more than what’s inside.
Readers can count down eight of Santa's reindeer as they jump up and out of the scene.
In each one of the mostly double-page spreads, one reindeer, from Dasher to Blitzen, plays a central role in a winter activity (sledding, ski jumping, ice skating—and soccer and yoga?) that launches the creature into the air. Glitter-speckled tabs, each with small portraits of a member of Santa's herd, appear at either the top or the right side of each page, which little fingers will enjoy flipping. In what looks to be pencil-and-watercolor cartoons, Rogers uses different facial expressions, as well as collars, bows or other accessories, to distinguish the reindeer from one another. Donner (not Donder) and Blitzen are squeezed together on the penultimate spread, likely to keep the page count down. The verse mostly scans, but the rhyme scheme has become the cliché of counting books: "Eight jolly reindeer / stretching up to heaven. / Up goes Dasher / and then there are... // Seven...." Santa, his iconic sleigh and the eight reindeer in flight make a dramatic and required appearance on the book's final double-page spread.
As with many holiday gifts, the sparkly packaging may interest toddlers more than what’s inside. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Aug. 10, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-545-65145-5
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Sept. 2, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
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