Uncluttered, concise, and predictable: perfect for toddlers and young preschoolers.
A cow, a pig, a sheep, and chickens seen through a cutout barn door and windows hint at what this simple board book is about.
Turn the thick pages to find four different farm buildings, each housing a different animal. Direct, repetitive text follows the same formula on each spread: “This is a henhouse. But who is inside?” Hints are embedded in the illustration. An overalls-clad school-age kid with pale skin and brown pigtails holds a basket of eggs, and a nesting box is seen outside the henhouse. Smaller text in a speech bubble asks, “What is that noise behind the bucket?” and directs readers to a small flap that hides chicks and the words Cheep! Cheep! That flap is embedded in a larger flap that reveals “It is the hens and their chicks! Say ‘Hello, hens!’ ” The same pattern is followed for cows, pigs, and sheep, with the same key words emphasized by a larger font. Full-page flaps on the final spread reveal all the animals in the barn. The presentation of the same limited facts about just four animals makes this a good choice for the youngest children. Two flaps per spread is just enough for a toddler’s attention span, and the double gatefold at the end is a welcome surprise. This is certain to generate both conversation and choruses of “Old MacDonald Had a Farm.”
Uncluttered, concise, and predictable: perfect for toddlers and young preschoolers. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-68010-659-6
Page Count: 10
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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