Children with easily annoyed or embarrassed parents will love it.
Sophie la girafe thinks it might be a good day to take a walk—but her friends have other ideas.
Designed along the same lines as Sophie’s Big Noisy Day Book (2015) but, improbably, even more raucous, the episode features bursts of loud and uncurtailable motor noises, horns, or sirens from a chip in the back (which requires three batteries to power). Each one is activated by lifting a flap on successive spreads to reveal another of Sophie’s friends in a car or other wheeled conveyance. Rather than promoting the benefits of getting around on two (or in the case of Sophie and friends, who are all animal toys, four) legs, Sophie bows to majority will at the end and opts for a drive rather than a walk. Off she goes in her “noisy car” with a “Beep! Beep! Brrm! Brrrrrm!” As the sounds are light-activated, not only will they not reliably work in a dim setting, but in brighter ones, one or two passes will leave the flaps sufficiently ajar that just turning the pages will set off engine roars and persistent honks.
Children with easily annoyed or embarrassed parents will love it. (Novelty/board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4654-5375-4
Page Count: 12
Publisher: DK Publishing
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 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
As with many holiday gifts, the sparkly packaging may interest toddlers more than what’s inside.
Readers can count down eight of Santa's reindeer as they jump up and out of the scene.
In each one of the mostly double-page spreads, one reindeer, from Dasher to Blitzen, plays a central role in a winter activity (sledding, ski jumping, ice skating—and soccer and yoga?) that launches the creature into the air. Glitter-speckled tabs, each with small portraits of a member of Santa's herd, appear at either the top or the right side of each page, which little fingers will enjoy flipping. In what looks to be pencil-and-watercolor cartoons, Rogers uses different facial expressions, as well as collars, bows or other accessories, to distinguish the reindeer from one another. Donner (not Donder) and Blitzen are squeezed together on the penultimate spread, likely to keep the page count down. The verse mostly scans, but the rhyme scheme has become the cliché of counting books: "Eight jolly reindeer / stretching up to heaven. / Up goes Dasher / and then there are... // Seven...." Santa, his iconic sleigh and the eight reindeer in flight make a dramatic and required appearance on the book's final double-page spread.
As with many holiday gifts, the sparkly packaging may interest toddlers more than what’s inside. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Aug. 10, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-545-65145-5
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Sept. 2, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
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