I-spy reading fun for little eyes.
A board book with great potential for interaction between a baby and the reader who shares it.
From one spread to the next, text poses observations and questions that are answered with the titular refrain, “it’s not the baby.” Accompanying pictures provide context and invite readers to point to key elements or to verbally identify them in response to the text. For example, the third double-page spread reads, “Who just tiptoed in to take frosting off the birthday cake? / It’s not the baby.” The accompanying illustration shows a grinning mouse gripping a hunk of brightly frosted cake in its front paws. Other animals and one white preschool-age child make similar mischief throughout the book, until the final spread when the white baby depicted on the cover reappears and is identified as the one who made “a great big slurp followed by a giant BURP.” “It IS the baby,” concludes the text as characters from the prior pages look on with wide-eyed expressions. The digital art uses bright colors to attract the eye and employs a cartoon style befitting the playful text, though the busyness of the pictures indicates an older toddler rather than infant audience.
I-spy reading fun for little eyes. (Board book. 18 mos.-3)Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-68152-194-7
Page Count: 14
Publisher: Amicus Ink
Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2018
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
Not a great choice for the youngest dinosaur lovers.
A board-book ode to parental love as old as the dinosaurs.
A line of text on the left of each spread reads like a dinosaur-themed valentine that a third grader might choose, with punishingly punny wordplay that incorporates dinosaur-related words. On the facing page a dinosaur pair—a baby and an adult—gaze lovingly into each other’s eyes against whimsical, pastel-hued prehistoric-ish backgrounds. In smaller print, in all caps, at the bottom of the left page is the scientific name for the dinosaur referenced by the text and picture followed by a helpful phonetic pronunciation guide. White-outlined footprints appear next to their names, though the white is sometimes difficult to see against the pastel pages. Ten of the best-known dinosaurs are included. Twisting the dinosaur names to fit the loving sentiments succeeds some of the time but more often results in tortured text, well beyond the understanding of the board book audience. The line accompanying two hugging velociraptors, for instance, is just confusing: “Wrap-TOR arms around me, / with you I’ll always stay.” Others are just plain clumsy: “I-wanna-GUANODON you kisses, / I truly just adore you.” Very young children, even those fascinated by dinosaurs, will not get it. Older dinosaur fans will be put off by the babyish format.
Not a great choice for the youngest dinosaur lovers. (Board book. 18 mos.-3)Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7282-2295-0
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
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