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UNICORN

From the Pop-Up Peekaboo! series

A sugar rush for diaper-clad unicorn devotees.

Unicorns in all—well, most—colors of the rainbow spot playmates peering from behind flaps.

Modeled from what looks like very palely tinted Play-Doh or its digital equivalent and resembling edible confections, single-hued unicorns Moonbeam, Daydream, Cupcake, and Sunshine each pose in succession opposite a big, sturdy, shaped flap that, when lifted, causes the next unicorn to pop up near likewise elevated clouds, mushrooms, flowers, or some other hiding place. The first four gather (“There’s one more unicorn to find. / Where is he? Do you know / Has he found a hiding place / behind the big rainbow?”) for the climactic revelation of a fifth, named Sparkle, who combines all the colors of the visible spectrum—except, for some reason, violet (or maybe indigo—with all the pastels, it’s a little hard to tell), which is also missing from the pastel arcs atop and beneath the flap. Maybe rainbows are different in unicorn world.

A sugar rush for diaper-clad unicorn devotees. (Pop-up board book. 1-3)

Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-4654-8331-7

Page Count: 12

Publisher: DK Publishing

Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019

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SPOOKY POOKIE

A pleasant holiday spent with a perfectly charming character.

One of Boynton's signature characters celebrates Halloween.

It's Halloween time, and Pookie the pig is delighted. Mom helps the little porker pick out the perfect Halloween costume, a process that spans the entire board book. Using an abcb rhyme scheme, Boynton dresses Pookie in a series of cheerful costumes, including a dragon, a bunny, and even a caped superhero. Pookie eventually settles on the holiday classic, a ghost, by way of a bedsheet. Boynton sprinkles in amusing asides to her stanzas as Pookie offers costume commentary ("It's itchy"; "It's hot"; "I feel silly"). Little readers will enjoy the notion of transforming themselves with their own Halloween costumes while reading this book, and a few parents may get some ideas as well. Boynton's clean, sharp illustrations are as good as ever. This is Pookie's first holiday title, but readers will surely welcome more.

A pleasant holiday spent with a perfectly charming character. (Board book. 1-3)

Pub Date: July 7, 2015

ISBN: 978-0-553-51233-5

Page Count: 18

Publisher: Robin Corey/Random

Review Posted Online: July 26, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016

Categories:
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EEK! HALLOWEEN!

An excellent, rounded effort from a creator who knows how to deliver.

The farmyard's chickens experience Halloween.

A round, full moon shines in the sky, and the chickens of Boynton's barnyard are feeling “nervous.” Pumpkins shine “with flickering eyes,” witches and wizards wander the pastures, and one chicken has seen “a mouse of enormous size.” It’s Halloween night, and readers will delight as the chickens huddle together and try to figure out what's going on. All ends well, of course, and in Boynton's trademark silly style. (It’s really quite remarkable how her ranks of white, yellow-beaked chickens evoke rows of candy corn.) At this point parents and children know what they're in for when they pick up a book by the prolific author, and she doesn't disappoint here. The chickens are silly, the pigs are cute, and the coloring and illustrations evoke a warmth that little ones wary of Halloween will appreciate. For children leery of the ghouls and goblins lurking in the holiday's iconography, this is a perfect antidote, emphasizing all the fun Halloween has to offer.

An excellent, rounded effort from a creator who knows how to deliver. (Board book. 1-3)

Pub Date: Aug. 23, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-7611-9300-5

Page Count: 24

Publisher: Workman

Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017

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