Stellar fun for any astronaut-to-be.
Entertainment for tots that’s visually and conceptually out of this world.
“They’re here…” and they’re babies! That’s the message from this delightful bedtime diversion. A classically bug-eyed ET and their otherworldly friends charm and amuse in this small, sturdy exploration of the paranormal for toddlers. Eye-catching artwork evokes the great science-fiction and fantasy pulp art of yesteryear, only with playful, toddler-sized creatures with big grins and a sense of adventure. The text is a series of rhymed couplets presented over bright and dazzling double-page spreads. Each vignette poses a question on the first page that is answered by opening a well-secured but mercifully easy-to-open flap on recto: “Who’s zipping past in a flash of light?” Opening the flap reveals the answer: “It’s Alien Baby taking flight!” The die-cut flaps won’t tear easily, and little fingers can grab and open each one with ease thanks to the unusual thickness of the pages and the generous amount of space between the edge of each flap and the rest of the page upon which it resides. UFOlogists will recognize Alien Baby as a “Roswell Gray.” The supporting cast includes a “space baboon,” a robot, a “lizard man,” two startled human astronauts (one brown skinned and one pale), and two adoring parents to tuck Alien Baby in to a whispered “night, night!” Companion title Bigfoot Baby! is earthbound and equally charming.
Stellar fun for any astronaut-to-be. (Board book. 1-4)Pub Date: April 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-948931-09-0
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Hazy Dell Press
Review Posted Online: April 7, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2020
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
Cute, harmless, and unlikely to achieve classic status.
Copious amounts of glitter and rainbows and a die-cut rainbow flower add a bit of interest to this celebration of the titular one-horned bunnies.
With simple, rhyming text and high-contrast, neon illustrations, this book is like cotton candy for the eyes and ears. Like that sugary confection, it’s sweet—arguably, too much so. “We’re going on a bunny hunt / to find the bunnycorns. / We follow trails of sparkle dust / and look for shiny horns! // We’ll find them in the places / where candy carrots grow. / I CAN SEE A BUNNYCORN! / Let’s go and say hello!” As the claims about the bunnycorns grow more extravagant, the artwork explodes in garish bursts of color. As for the aforementioned die-cut flower, it starts as a large cutout on the front cover of the book, becoming progressively smaller through each successive page, till it ends as a glittery, yellow single flower on the second-to-last double-page spread. In the denouement that follows, the narrative voice breaks the literary fourth wall: “If you believe in bunnycorns, / then they’ll believe in you. / ’Cause bunnycorns are special, / and baby, YOU are too!” The use of bunnies, of course, constitutes a radical departure from author McLean and illustrator Le Tandé’s 2019 opus, I Love My Llamacorn.
Cute, harmless, and unlikely to achieve classic status. (Board book. 1-4)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-12643-1
Page Count: 18
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: March 24, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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