What better way to deal with baby monsters than to tuck them safely into bed? Little monsters will try to put off the...
A board book for older toddlers who like pretending to be just a little bit scared.
Young children will recognize themselves and their bedtime routines in the four-line rhymes that appear on verso, describing spread by spread eight monsters that they may soon meet in more menacing contexts. On the facing page, graphically designed toddler versions of each monster exhibit their defining characteristics. A square-headed “Frankenbaby” with bolts in his neck wears training pants, while a green zombie baby in a high chair has taken a bite out of the head of a gingerbread boy. An equally green adult zombie proffers a sippy cup. Similarly, a vampire girl hanging upside down from a shower-curtain rod is offered a pink toothbrush for her fangs. A small mummy brings a pile of books on outstretched arms to mama mummy for a “bed-tomb story.” “Loch Nessie,” “wolfboy,” “little Bigfoot,” and a pair of purple “gleeful goblins” round out the cast. The final pages show all the monsters in silhouette under a full yellow moon as they march off to bed in a backyard tent.
What better way to deal with baby monsters than to tuck them safely into bed? Little monsters will try to put off the inevitable bedtime with the demand, “read it again.” (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: June 26, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-338-10559-9
Page Count: 20
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 10, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
It’s nothing new, but it’s also clearly heartfelt.
A love song from parents to their child.
This title will seem quite similar to the many others about parents’ deep love for their children. The text is wholly composed of first-person declarations of parental love, and it’s juxtaposed with illustrations of the child with one or both parents. It’s not always clear who the “I” speaking is, and there are a few pages that instead use “we.” Most sentences begin with “I love you more” phrasing to communicate that nothing could undermine parental love: “I love you more than all the sleepless nights…and all the early, tired mornings.” The accompanying pictures depict the child as a baby with weary parents. Later spreads show the child growing up, and the phrasing shifts away from the challenges of parenting to its joys and to attempts to quantify love: “I love you more than all the blades of grass at the park…and all the soccer that we played.” Throughout, Bell’s illustrations use pastel tones and soft visual texture to depict cozy, wholesome scenes that are largely redundant of the straightforward, warm text. They feature a brown-haired family with a mother, father, and child, who all appear to be white (though the father has skin that’s a shade darker than the others’).
It’s nothing new, but it’s also clearly heartfelt. (Picture book. 2-4)Pub Date: Aug. 14, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4998-0652-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little Bee Books
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
This TV rerun in board-book form has nothing new to offer.
Peppa hopes to join her classmates in a Halloween pumpkin competition in this adaptation of a story from the popular British television program Peppa Pig.
With the help of Granny and Grandpa Pig, Peppa turns her giant pumpkin, which is the size of a compact car, into a jack-o’-lantern. The trio is flummoxed when it comes time to transport the pumpkin to the competition, so they call on Miss Rabbit and her helicopter to airlift the pumpkin to the festivities as Peppa and her grandparents ride inside. Peppa arrives just in time for the contest and wins the prize for best flying pumpkin. The scenes look as if they are pulled directly from the television show, right down to the rectangular framing of some of the scenes. While the story is literally nothing new, the text is serviceable, describing the action in two to three sentences per page. The pumpkin-shaped book and orange foil cover will likely attract youngsters, whether they are Peppa fans or not.
This TV rerun in board-book form has nothing new to offer. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: July 30, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-33922-2
Page Count: 10
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2019
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