Eye-catching art and simple, clear text plant the seeds for a young gardener.
A great guide to growing young gardeners!
This book lives up to its name with a straightforward question-and-answer format that’s perfect for interested toddlers and preschoolers. Children by a raised garden bed plant lettuce seeds with a “sprinkle, sprinkle, sprinkle. / Pat, pat, pat.” The first steps of planting peas are different, but all newly planted seeds need a drink. The garden rules of insect etiquette are clear. “How do you say hello to a worm? / Gently, very gently.” And to a ladybug? “Let her crawl onto your finger. / Count her spots. / Say, Hello, Ladybug! before she flies away.” A bee? “Look but don’t poke… / Listen but don’t grab.” As they follow the growth of their garden, the children experience the joy of feeling pea tendrils curling around their fingers, having a tea party inside a play hut made from pea plants and tall sticks, and making mud. Backmatter suggests creating a “dig zone” with a clear border so kids can play and the main garden can stay safe. Finally, the children get to taste the food they’ve grown. In a slight mismatch, the children plant lettuce and peas but carefully and joyfully harvest strawberries, carrots, and peas. Illustrations created with silkscreen and collaged in Photoshop pop against a white background and show children of various ethnicities. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Eye-catching art and simple, clear text plant the seeds for a young gardener. (Picture book. 1-4)Pub Date: Feb. 22, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-22679-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Rise x Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2022
Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come.
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)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-544-93809-0
Page Count: 16
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
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A pleasant holiday spent with a perfectly charming character.
One of Boynton's signature characters celebrates Halloween.
It's Halloween time, and Pookie the pig is delighted. Mom helps the little porker pick out the perfect Halloween costume, a process that spans the entire board book. Using an abcb rhyme scheme, Boynton dresses Pookie in a series of cheerful costumes, including a dragon, a bunny, and even a caped superhero. Pookie eventually settles on the holiday classic, a ghost, by way of a bedsheet. Boynton sprinkles in amusing asides to her stanzas as Pookie offers costume commentary ("It's itchy"; "It's hot"; "I feel silly"). Little readers will enjoy the notion of transforming themselves with their own Halloween costumes while reading this book, and a few parents may get some ideas as well. Boynton's clean, sharp illustrations are as good as ever. This is Pookie's first holiday title, but readers will surely welcome more.
A pleasant holiday spent with a perfectly charming character. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: July 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-553-51233-5
Page Count: 18
Publisher: Robin Corey/Random
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
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