A sense of fun, clear, uncluttered design, and construction that should hold up to heavy use make this board book's...
A book bound in a box, with layered die-cut board pages within, introduces a variety of animals for young children to practice counting.
A cheerful, begging dog peeks through a cutout on the extra-thick cover and provides a tactile surprise on the first page. Each successively larger die-cut page has a layered half-circle tab to make page turning easy for little fingers. A spotted pup is delightfully out of place on each page, from two kangaroos to nine fish. Older toddlers (or their parents, who will be asked to count the same animals again and again) can make a game out of finding the dog in unexpected places: in the kangaroo's pouch, on a lily pad, swimming underwater, or hanging improbably upside down with seven bats. (Perhaps that is why the dogs look so cheerful on the first and last spreads but slightly pained on the counting pages.) There is a fair amount of subtlety at work. Each dog is slightly different from the others, with its collar color matched to the animals on whose page it appears. The sturdy format and extra reinforcement afforded by the box that contains the tabbed pages will help this book hold up to rough handling by babies as they become book-toting toddlers.
A sense of fun, clear, uncluttered design, and construction that should hold up to heavy use make this board book's relatively high price well worth the extra expense. (Board book. 18 mos.-3)Pub Date: May 26, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-545-78392-7
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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