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PLAYTIME

Name: PLAYTIME
Author: Fiona Lee
ISBN: 978-1-74297-827-7

From the Rhyme Time series

by Fiona Lee ; illustrated by Fiona Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 2015

Skip.

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Seven classic finger rhymes and songs form the text of this board book.

Promoted on the back as a “lively collection of 7 favourite” verses, the book is actually an odd mix of rhymes that are so well-known no book is needed (“This Little Piggy” and “The Wheels on the Bus”) and ones that are extremely obscure (“Miss Polly Had a Dolly”). One choice—“Round and round the garden / Like a teddy bear. / One step, two step, / Tickle you under there!”—is actively disturbing, as the picture gives no hint where young viewers should be tickled. In fact, the pictures are largely just cute decorations; they do not give clear hints to the hand motions that would turn the rhymes into fingerplays. Together with its companion, Sleepy Time, published simultaneously, it seems more geared to the needs of adults who may not remember the words to childhood rhymes than to the needs of children who require the board-book format. Although the Rhyme Time series is billed as “essential rhymes for every new parent,” babies, toddlers, and parents would be better served by any comprehensive, illustrated nursery-rhyme collection. Better yet, choose stand-alone titles that enrich the sharing experience with details in the pictures, such as Karen Katz’s The Babies on the Bus (2011) or, for older toddlers, Paul O. Zelinsky's classic, paper-engineered The Wheels on the Bus (1990).

Skip. (Board book. 6 mos.-2)

Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-74297-827-7

Page Count: 24

Publisher: Trafalgar Square

Review Posted Online: June 28, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S POETRY

- BOOK REVIEW
EAT YOUR PEAS, JULIUS!
by Shirin Yim Bridges ; illustrated by Fiona Lee

- BOOK REVIEW
BRILLIANT BEA
by Shaina Rudolph & Mary Vukadinovich ; illustrated by Fiona Lee

- BOOK REVIEW
SYLVIA FINDS A WAY
by Stephanie Shaw ; illustrated by Fiona Lee

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CARPENTER'S HELPER

by Sybil Rosen ; illustrated by Camille Garoche ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 16, 2021

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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LITTLE BLUE TRUCK'S SPRINGTIME

From the Little Blue Truck series

by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by Jill McElmurry ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 2, 2018

Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come.

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Little Blue Truck and his pal Toad meet friends old and new on a springtime drive through the country.

This lift-the-flap, interactive entry in the popular Little Blue Truck series lacks the narrative strength and valuable life lessons of the original Little Blue Truck (2008) and its sequel, Little Blue Truck Leads the Way (2009). Both of those books, published for preschoolers rather than toddlers, featured rich storylines, dramatic, kinetic illustrations, and simple but valuable life lessons—the folly of taking oneself too seriously, the importance of friends, and the virtue of taking turns, for example. At about half the length and with half as much text as the aforementioned titles, this volume is a much quicker read. Less a story than a vernal celebration, the book depicts a bucolic drive through farmland and encounters with various animals and their young along the way. Beautifully rendered two-page tableaux teem with butterflies, blossoms, and vibrant pastel, springtime colors. Little Blue greets a sheep standing in the door of a barn: “Yoo-hoo, Sheep! / Beep-beep! / What’s new?” Folding back the durable, card-stock flap reveals the barn’s interior and an adorable set of twin lambs. Encounters with a duck and nine ducklings, a cow with a calf, a pig with 10 (!) piglets, a family of bunnies, and a chicken with a freshly hatched chick provide ample opportunity for counting and vocabulary work.

Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come. (Board book. 1-4)