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MR. BEAR'S LITTLE NUMBERS

Name: MR. BEAR'S LITTLE NUMBERS
Author: Virginie Aracil
ISBN: 979-1-03631-355-4

by Virginie Aracil ; illustrated by Virginie Aracil ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 4, 2020

A pleasing, well-designed book readers can return to.

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This colorful, tactile French import introduces children to numbers and counting.

In both this book and its companion, Mr. Bear’s Little Shapes, Aracil introduces readers to preschool concepts through beautifully designed, touch-friendly elements. Mr. Bear’s Little Shapes is a catalog of basic and more advanced shapes, ranging from simple circles and triangles to stars and semicircles. The items chosen are accessible, and the pages are cleverly tabbed on the edges with die-cut shapes that together serve as a clever kind of index for tiny fingers. Unfortunately, the author mixes both three- and two-dimensional shapes, including spherical items such as balls and the moon for circle and tents and pyramids for triangle, requiring caregivers to back and fill on the details. Additionally, the circle and oval tabs are impossible to tell apart when the book is closed. Mr. Bear’s Little Numbers is more educationally sound and more fun for young readers as well: The numbers are embossed with a pebbly texture, encouraging children to trace their shapes while also counting the quirky collections of items. Unlike many beginning counting books, the pages go beyond the number 10, introducing children to 20, 30, 40, 50, and 100. Although most in the audience will not be able to count to 100, the pictures still give them a sense of the relative quantities in a fun and interesting way. The neon color palette and cartoonlike pictures are incredibly appealing visually—both stylish and fun.

A pleasing, well-designed book readers can return to. (Board book. 1-3)

Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020

ISBN: 979-1-03631-355-4

Page Count: 22

Publisher: Twirl/Chronicle

Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS

- BOOK REVIEW
MR. BEAR'S BIRTHDAY
by Virginie Aracil ; illustrated by Virginie Aracil ; translated by Wendeline A. Hardenberg

- BOOK REVIEW
KISSES!
by Virginie Aracil ; illustrated by Virginie Aracil

- BOOK REVIEW
MR. BEAR'S ABC
by Virginie Aracil ; illustrated by Virginie Aracil

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SMILE, POUT-POUT FISH

by Deborah Diesen ; illustrated by Dan Hanna ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 7, 2014

An upbeat early book on feelings with a simple storyline that little ones will respond to.

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
THE WORRY-WORRY WHALE AND THE CLASSROOM JITTERS
by Deborah Diesen ; illustrated by Dan Hanna

- BOOK REVIEW
POUT-POUT FISH
by Deborah Diesen ; illustrated by Dan Hanna

- BOOK REVIEW
THE POUT-POUT FISH AND THE MAD, MAD DAY
by Deborah Diesen ; illustrated by Dan Hanna

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ALL ABOUT ME

From the Look & Learn series

by National Geographic ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 11, 2014

Clear nonfiction for the very young is hard to come by, and it appears that the Look & Learn series may finally be on...

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An exploration of the human body through colorful photos.

Every other double-page spread labels the individual parts on one major area: head, torso, back, arm and leg. Ethnically diverse boy-girl pairs serve as models as arrows point to specific features and captions float nearby. While the book usefully mentions rarely depicted body parts, such as eyebrow, armpit and shin, some of the directional arrows are unclear. The arrow pointing at a girl’s shoulder hits her in the upper arm, and the belly button is hard is distinguish from the stomach (both are concealed by shirts). Facts about the human body (“Guess what? You have tiny hairs in your nose that keep out dirt”) appear on alternating spreads along with photos of kids in action. Baby Animals, another title in the Look & Learn series, uses an identical format to introduce readers to seal pups, leopard cubs, elephant calves, ducklings and tadpoles. In both titles, the final spread offers a review of the information and encourages readers to match baby animals to their parents or find body parts on a photo of kids jumping on a trampoline.

Clear nonfiction for the very young is hard to come by, and it appears that the Look & Learn series may finally be on the right track despite earlier titles that were much too conceptual for the audience. (Board book. 18 mos.-3)