Bright but small pictures provide many opportunities for vocabulary development when read one-on-one, but don't try to use...
A busy addition to the Bright Start Right Start series.
This little book tries to cover too much. Each page has between eight and 14 small pictures of everyday objects familiar to most toddlers. The first spread is “about me,” and subsequent topics include family, home, outside, fun, food, transportation, animals, bathtime, and finally sleep. The organization is logical, but some of the concepts are too abstract to be defined by just a few pictures. For example, it is not possible to include all possible configurations and ethnic varieties of families in just eight pictures with 13 labels, but it tries, and as a consequence, all the pictures are too small. Other books in the series are more successful. The layout in Farm Animals includes one large picture with three small pictures on the facing page that provide additional information about each animal. In Shapes, a large image is on the left, with four examples of the shape on the right. The most effective spread in Opposites shows just one red car and then a front and back view. Unfortunately the other spreads are much more cluttered, so the concepts are less clear. On the plus side, the series aligns nicely with emergent-literacy principles. In addition to the labeled pictures, questions to encourage parent-child interaction are on every page.
Bright but small pictures provide many opportunities for vocabulary development when read one-on-one, but don't try to use this in a group setting. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Feb. 17, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-910184-74-5
Page Count: 20
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
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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