Lovely illustrations accompany this quaint, toddler-friendly intro to French culture and language.
A day in the life of Bébé and Doudou in France.
This board book opens on a busy day when Bébé wakes up. From there, it’s on to breakfast, a walk, and a trip to the park, among other activities. Each page features a different child and their lovey (doudou) along with a sprinkle of French and accompanying helpful phonetic spellings. Words and phrases like bonjour, bon appétit, and bonne nuit are woven into the text in such a way that non-native speakers can manage them. The phonetic spellings encourage correct pronunciation and familiarize little readers with new words. The book concludes with a section called “A Day in France,” which translates all of the French from the text into English. While this is certainly helpful, readers may wish it had come earlier, as it takes some time for context clues to kick in on the word doudou unless readers are previously familiar. Carpentier’s illustrations are bold and striking, depicting rich textures in, for instance, people’s hair or orange peels on a table. Characters are racially diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Lovely illustrations accompany this quaint, toddler-friendly intro to French culture and language. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-64686-718-9
Page Count: 20
Publisher: Barefoot Books
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
An effervescent celebration of play in the early years.
As with Spanyol’s stellar Clive books, Rosa’s favorite activities buck gender stereotypes.
The toddler races toy cars, jumps monster trucks, and builds a car out of a cardboard box with her buddies in what looks like a day care or preschool setting. Spanyol’s childlike lines, soft palette, and chunky figures are as cheerful as ever. The text is mostly straightforward, simple narration peppered with exclamations from Rosa and her chums: “Rosa and Marcel play in the sandpit. ‘Dig-a-dig, dig-a-dig, scoop!’ sings Rosa.” Rosa has brown skin and black, curly hair, and she wears bright yellow eyeglasses. Her friends include Samira, who uses a wheelchair and is likely of South Asian descent; Mustafa, who appears black; Biba, who has light-brown skin and straight, black hair; and Sarah and Marcel, who both present white. Three other equally charming titles accompany this offering. In Rosa and Her Dinosaurs, the heroine dons a purple dress and plays with a collection of toy dinosaurs. Rosa and her buds (all wearing helmets) roll through the pages of Rosa Rides Her Scooter. And in Rosa Plays Ball, Rosa pushes a cart with various kinds of balls to toss about with her friends outside.
An effervescent celebration of play in the early years. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-78628-125-8
Page Count: 14
Publisher: Child's Play
Review Posted Online: Dec. 4, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2019
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A fun but inessential novelty, as much toy as book.
A familiar song repackaged as a board book doubles as a finger puppet.
Many a caregiver has sung this refrain to a newborn or toddler, ignoring the decidedly sad lyrics of the original. Magsamen lays claim and sweetens it up. She uses only the chorus and changes the last line to “I’ll give you lots of hugs… / and kisses every day” instead of the expected “Please don’t take my sunshine away.” Her cheery artwork, reminiscent of applique, recalls the song’s country-music roots and is anything but sad. The pages are decorated with hearts and cuddly-looking caregiver-child animal pairs—foxes, skunks with sunny yellow umbrellas, bunnies, raccoons, and squirrels. The thick, heart-shaped pages include a circular die-cut hole through which readers might poke the smiling felt sun puppet attached to the back cover. A finger inserted from the back makes the sun wiggle and will capture even the youngest baby’s attention. The puppet feature does not obstruct the initial page turns, but when a toddler says, “Do it again” (as they doubtless will), quickly re-positioning the finger puppet is somewhat challenging.
A fun but inessential novelty, as much toy as book. (Board book. 18 mos.-3)Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-338-30576-0
Page Count: 6
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Nov. 11, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2019
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