Fans of the first book may want to see mom in action, but as a solo act, this one just doesn’t fly.
Mom gets to be the star in this follow-up to My Dad is the Best Playground (2012).
Describing all of mom’s duties as circus acts, the book reveals the everyday life of mom and two toddlers, likely fraternal twins, of indeterminate gender. Mom is a working mother, and readers see her interacting with her little ones with boundless energy in the morning and in the evening when she returns home from work. She’s a juggler as she prepares breakfast, an animal tamer as she wrestles laundry into the washing machine and a “strongwoman” as she carries one kid under each arm. The format parallels the first book, with kinetic, cartoon images in muted colors of a happy, loving and playful family. While the father-as-playground analogy was successful and easy to relate to, the mother-as-circus concept may confuse little ones who are often not so familiar with the goings-on under the big top. The depiction of mom’s shadow flying on the trapeze is too subtle for the audience, and the cover illustration of mom happily juggling a hot cup of coffee is baffling and dangerous. On the final double-page spreads, readers learn that mom’s best act is the “sandman show,” a concept that may also require some explanation.
Fans of the first book may want to see mom in action, but as a solo act, this one just doesn’t fly. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: March 26, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-307-93143-6
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: March 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2013
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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