Appealing nonfiction for the littlest learners.
A toddler’s introduction to the beach becomes a vehicle to present some basic concepts and vocabulary.
This small, square volume homes in on the elements most crucial to a happy day at the shore. A couple of sentences of text with one or two boldfaced terms appear at the bottom of each left-hand page. The items in bold are depicted above the text against a plain white background and then placed into some context in the fuller illustrations occupying the right-hand pages. For example, illustrations of a shovel and pail appear above the text: “This is my shovel and this is my pail. I’m using my shovel to fill my pail with sand. Look! My pail is almost full.” The right-hand page depicts a smiling pink-skinned toddler playing happily with the pail and shovel in a patch of sand. Other items introduced are the sun, the toddler’s swimming trunks and sun hat, shells, water wings, water and ice cream cones. The simple illustrations—featuring bold outlines, vivid colors, and the same cheerful tot—are a good complement to the brief, descriptive text, and together they make a helpful primer on the basics of beachgoing.
Appealing nonfiction for the littlest learners. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: April 15, 2014
ISBN: 978-1605371665
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Clavis
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2014
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
An upbeat early book on feelings with a simple storyline that little ones will respond to.
This simplified version of Diesen and Hanna’s The Pout-Pout Fish (2008) is appropriate for babies and toddlers.
Brief, rhyming text tells the story of a sullen fish cheered up with a kiss. A little pink sea creature pokes his head out of a hole in the sea bottom to give the gloomy fish some advice: “Smile, Mr. Fish! / You look so down // With your glum-glum face / And your pout-pout frown.” He explains that there’s no reason to be worried, scared, sad or mad and concludes: “How about a smooch? / And a cheer-up wish? // Now you look happy: / What a smile, Mr. Fish!” Simple and sweet, this tale offers the lesson that sometimes, all that’s needed for a turnaround in mood is some cheer and encouragement to change our perspective. The clean, uncluttered illustrations are kept simple, except for the pout-pout fish’s features, which are delightfully expressive. Little ones will easily recognize and likely try to copy the sad, scared and angry looks that cross the fish’s face.
An upbeat early book on feelings with a simple storyline that little ones will respond to. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-374-37084-8
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2014
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