Quibbles aside, this is a sweet tale for young preschoolers getting into the Halloween spirit. Similar tales abound, so...
What begins as a lyrical bedtime book featuring a friendly, freckled ghost evolves into a gentle rhyming interactive story for not-so-sleepyheads.
Lush language describes a spooky, dilapidated setting where “a family of ghosts” lives. Boo is the “littlest” and can finally stay up late and go a-haunting. After a rollicking evening of games with the big ghosts, Boo and his mama return home. When Boo protests that he is not tired enough to sleep, Mama suggests he “listen to the sounds of the house.” Once his eyes are closed, he can hear the ghosts whooshing, bats flapping, footsteps tapping, spiders clicking, a clock ticking. The thrice-repeated noises get more boisterous and potentially scary: Witches cackle, skeletons rattle, monsters moan, wolves howl. But always there is the gentle, reassuring sound of the ghosts’ whoosh. Leick’s illustrations with muted colors and soft textures feature amiable, transparent human-headed ghosts who cavort and cuddle on full-bleed pages. This is most successful on double-page spreads, less so in the frameless side-by-side pages, especially where the gutter cuts off an owl’s wing.
Quibbles aside, this is a sweet tale for young preschoolers getting into the Halloween spirit. Similar tales abound, so purchase as needed. (Picture book. 2-4)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-375-86991-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Golden Books/Random
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
A gentle outing for children who are ready for stories of everyday life rather than just objects to name.
A brief rhyming board book for toddlers.
Spurr's earlier board books (In the Garden and At the Beach, both 2012; In the Woods, 2013) featured an adventuresome little boy. Her new slice-of-life story stars an equally joyful little girl who takes pleasure in flying a new kite while not venturing far off the walkway. Oliphant's expressive and light-filled watercolors clearly depict the child's emotions—eager excitement on the way to the park, delight at the kite's flight in the wind, shock when the kite breaks free, dejection, and finally relief and amazement. The rhymes work, though uneven syllable counts in some stanzas interrupt the smooth flow of the verse. The illustrations depict the child with her mass of windblown curls, brown skin, and pronounced facial features as African-American. Her guardian (presumably her mother) is also brown-skinned. It is refreshing to see an African-American family settled comfortably in a suburban setting with single-family homes and a park where the family dog does not need to be leashed.
A gentle outing for children who are ready for stories of everyday life rather than just objects to name. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-56145-854-7
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
The joys of counting combine with pretty art and homage to Goodnight Moon.
This bedtime book offers simple rhymes, celebrates the numbers one through 10, and encourages the counting of objects.
Each double-page spread shows a different toddler-and-caregiver pair, with careful attention to different skin tones, hair types, genders, and eye shapes. The pastel palette and soft, rounded contours of people and things add to the sleepy litany of the poems, beginning with “Goodnight, one fork. / Goodnight, one spoon. / Goodnight, one bowl. / I’ll see you soon.” With each number comes a different part in a toddler’s evening routine, including dinner, putting away toys, bathtime, and a bedtime story. The white backgrounds of the pages help to emphasize the bold representations of the numbers in both written and numerical forms. Each spread gives multiple opportunities to practice counting to its particular number; for example, the page for “four” includes four bottles of shampoo and four inlaid dots on a stool—beyond the four objects mentioned in the accompanying rhyme. Each home’s décor, and the array and types of toys and accoutrements within, shows a decidedly upscale, Western milieu. This seems compatible with the patronizing author’s note to adults, which accuses “the media” of indoctrinating children with fear of math “in our country.” Regardless, this sweet treatment of numbers and counting may be good prophylaxis against math phobia.
The joys of counting combine with pretty art and homage to Goodnight Moon. (Picture book. 2-4)Pub Date: March 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-101-93378-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2016
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