An infectious bedtime story, sure to prompt yawns in readers and their preschool listeners as well.
When the sun sets and all the animals are sleepy, Little Bear is still wide awake, but finally, the cub too, yawns and, after a good-night kiss from Great Big Bear, drops off to sleep.
Haughton’s deceptively simple narrative chronicles a series of animal yawns. Using digital color effects with masterful control, he gradually darkens his palette as day turns into night. Early pages are cut so that each group is revealed in turn on successively bigger spreads, from small to large: mice, hares, deer, and bears. These nongendered, stylized, blue and black animal shapes have large eyes, heavy-lidded or entirely closed except for those of wide-awake Little Bear. A strip of green grass along the bottom of each spread gradually darkens, white space shrinks and disappears, and the colors of the plants and trees turn from gold to red to a brownish purple. The artist runs through his spectrum again in the final pages: mice sleep against a green backdrop, hares under an orange sky, deer against pinky-reds, and the bears in a purple and black world. Polar-centered star maps on the endpapers might suggest a different kind of story and add a mythic dimension. In front are the Southern Hemisphere constellations; in the back, the Northern Hemisphere reveals the Great Bear and the Little Bear in the sky.
An infectious bedtime story, sure to prompt yawns in readers and their preschool listeners as well. (Picture book. 1-5)Pub Date: Dec. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7636-9079-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2016
Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come.
Little Blue Truck and his pal Toad meet friends old and new on a springtime drive through the country.
This lift-the-flap, interactive entry in the popular Little Blue Truck series lacks the narrative strength and valuable life lessons of the original Little Blue Truck (2008) and its sequel, Little Blue Truck Leads the Way (2009). Both of those books, published for preschoolers rather than toddlers, featured rich storylines, dramatic, kinetic illustrations, and simple but valuable life lessons—the folly of taking oneself too seriously, the importance of friends, and the virtue of taking turns, for example. At about half the length and with half as much text as the aforementioned titles, this volume is a much quicker read. Less a story than a vernal celebration, the book depicts a bucolic drive through farmland and encounters with various animals and their young along the way. Beautifully rendered two-page tableaux teem with butterflies, blossoms, and vibrant pastel, springtime colors. Little Blue greets a sheep standing in the door of a barn: “Yoo-hoo, Sheep! / Beep-beep! / What’s new?” Folding back the durable, card-stock flap reveals the barn’s interior and an adorable set of twin lambs. Encounters with a duck and nine ducklings, a cow with a calf, a pig with 10 (!) piglets, a family of bunnies, and a chicken with a freshly hatched chick provide ample opportunity for counting and vocabulary work.
Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come. (Board book. 1-4)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-544-93809-0
Page Count: 16
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An upbeat Easter outing with a beloved character.
Pookie celebrates Easter with a play date and holiday activities.
Pookie’s friend Bean, a gray puppy, comes over for Easter fun that includes lots of bouncing around and egg decorating. After Bean goes home, Pookie gets excited about the Easter Bunny’s arrival and goes to sleep dreaming of a large chocolate egg. Like the other Pookie books before it, this one is told in rhyme from the perspective of a loving grown-up addressing the little pig, which keeps the pace moving and makes for a great read-aloud. Bean and Pookie are realistically—and endearingly—childlike, from Pookie’s pronunciation of yellow as “lellow!” to the joyful mess they make while decorating eggs. There are plenty of sweet and festive touches, such as the bunny ears that Bean and Pookie (and Pookie’s teddy) wear and the daffodils painted on the end of Pookie’s bed. The illustrations include large, full-page images as well as smaller vignettes against solid backgrounds. One page shows Pookie and parent looking out the window at the moon, anticipating Easter’s spoils. For fans of Boynton and little Pookie, this Easter tale is exactly as expected: a touch of playfulness, a relatable story, and comfort in the familiar. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
An upbeat Easter outing with a beloved character. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-66592-838-0
Page Count: 18
Publisher: Boynton Bookworks
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2022
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