Saccharine and ephemeral.
The 10 felt flaps in this board book seem incidental to its message of love.
Little fingers will quickly grasp the heart-shaped cover cutout decorating a polka-dot cat. Within, whimsical animals set against pastel backgrounds illustrate rhyming text printed in a clean but light all-caps type. The rhymes mostly work, though “Surrounded by a curlicue. / Or playing games of peekaboo” doesn’t exactly slide smoothly off the tongue. The felt tab on each spread is a gimmick, inessential to the narrative. The initial heart hides a bouquet of flowers. A pink elephant’s felt ear hides a baby elephant. One of the panda papa’s arms is felt, barely covering two pink cubs. Young children may miss a baby panda on the opposite page being carried in the mama panda’s mouth. A lion cub hides behind a larger lion’s felt mane, though in real life mane-free mother lions are the protectors. Turquoise felt mittens hiding brown fingers decorated with rings and rainbow-colored fingernails grace the spread with the most awkward rhyme: “A helpful hand, a gentle squeeze. / Love is kindness, comfort, peace.” On the final spread, decorated with animals, hearts, flowers, rainbows, and faces with varied skin tones, a pink felt speech bubble hides the words, “You are loved.” The felt flaps, while tactile and inviting, also stretch when pulled.
Saccharine and ephemeral. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4521-7260-6
Page Count: 18
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
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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