A silly and entertaining interactive read.
A monster helps itself to readers’ fingers.
It's lunchtime, and this blue-and-pink monster is looking for something to eat. Readers insert all five digits into holes through the front cover and, one by one as the pages turn, the fingers are gobbled up. The monster narrates its meal with rhyming couplets that evoke silly and gross imagery that will make little readers squirm with delight: “Delectable digits for nibbling and crunching. / Scrumptious wigglers perfect for munching.” The illustrations are perfunctory, with bold lines surrounding the rounded, bouncy characters typical to this sort of media. The interactive play is what makes this book stand apart. Little ones will enjoy putting their own fingers on the monster's plate, but older readers will be able to make this one really sing as a read-aloud toward the end of an intimate storytime. The holes are reasonably sized, but those with large hands may have a difficult time maneuvering.
A silly and entertaining interactive read. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: April 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-316-37799-7
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A trio of monsters enjoy Halloween festivities in this pumpkin-shaped board-book offering.
A fuzzy blue critter with horns, accompanied by a purple dinosaurlike creature and yellow beastie with pigtails, selects a pumpkin from a patch, carves it and takes it to a jack-o’-lantern contest. The rhyming text, with one line per page, is forced and doesn’t scan: “Pumpkin, pumpkin, big and steady, / Costumes and carving, time to get ready!” While the three central characters are appropriately toddler-friendly, monsters dressing up for Halloween is a bit of a conceptual stretch. The shiny orange foil cover and the bright orange pumpkins within are eye-catching, but the rest of the palette—pale blues, greens, grays and browns—causes some of the characters to fade into the scenery in Marts’ quirky cartoons. This slight slice of pumpkin pie will tempt few little trick-or-treaters. (Board book. 18 mos.-3)
Pub Date: June 24, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-545-49332-1
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
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