A warm and enticing celebration of doting fathers.
Whether they are “Papa,” “Bàba,” “Papi,” or “Fadre,” fathers love their children.
This board book shows dads engaging in many different forms of love: reading bedtime stories, searching the skies with a telescope, biking, and gardening. Told from the child’s point of view, the text is made up of simple, descriptive statements like “Daddy and I play soccer together. He teaches me how to juggle the ball,” and “Baba shows me how to dress with style. He makes everything look like new.” The book is inclusive, with characters who are diverse in terms of race and ability. Urda also includes a child who talks about a father figure rather than a dad: “Pappy is like my dad—he helps me ride my bike.” Butcher’s illustrations carefully capture details such as delicate, Afro-textured curls, braids, and crutches. The images show fathers doing a range of tasks, including those traditionally associated with mothers, such as baking and sewing. The colors are vibrant and inviting, with plenty to take in on each page. Overall, this simple tale shows fathers as the diverse, capable, loving parents that they are. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A warm and enticing celebration of doting fathers. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: April 4, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-4998-1351-7
Page Count: 20
Publisher: Little Bee Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
Perfect for Valentine’s Day, but the syrupy sweetness will cloy after the holiday.
Animal parents declare their love for their offspring in alphabetical order.
Each page displays an enormous capital letter, one line of verse with the keyword capitalized, and a loving nonhuman parent gazing adoringly at their baby. “A is for Always. I always love you more. / B is for Butterfly kisses. It’s you that I adore.” While not named or labelled as such, the A is also for an alligator and its hatchling and B is for a butterfly and a butterfly child (not a caterpillar—biology is not the aim of this title) interacting in some way with the said letter. For E there are an elephant and a calf; U features a unicorn and foal; and X, keyed to the last letter of the animal’s name, corresponds to a fox and three pups. The final double-page spread shows all the featured creatures and their babies as the last line declares: “Baby, I love you from A to Z!” The verse is standard fare and appropriately sentimental. The art is cartoony-cute and populated by suitably loving critters on solid backgrounds. Hearts accent each scene, but the theme of the project is never in any doubt.
Perfect for Valentine’s Day, but the syrupy sweetness will cloy after the holiday. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-7282-2095-6
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Guess how much you’ll be reading this.
Parent and child share a day of small adventures and cozy snuggles.
That the two happen to be tortoises is totally beside the point. Die-cut holes and shaped edges turn nearly every page flip into a surprise. Following a parental “Good morning, Baby” to greet the youngling’s “Wake up, wake up, I want to play… / The sun is up, it’s a brand new day!” the two reptiles ramble off to munch on leaves, weather a sudden rain shower, discover a flock of butterflies, climb a hill, watch the moon rise, and, at last, weary little one perched on top, settle down to snooze again. The paper engineering is ingenious. Turning a seemingly arbitrarily shaped page with a special window framing a pink butterfly fills the spread with many jewel-toned insects; even though the tortoises never change position, the scene is completely transformed. Hegarty’s rhymed narrative features lots of tender sentiments—“Wherever you are, wherever you go, / Baby, I’ll always love you so”—while steering clear of any gender references. In Elliott’s peaceful, grassy settings the wanderers’ small smiles and shared glances likewise create a sense of loving intimacy. This is likely to become a victim of its own appeal, being as the paper stock is rather too flimsy to survive much contact with toddler hands. Still, a clear winner for sharing with audiences of one or dozens.
Guess how much you’ll be reading this. (Novelty. 18 mos.-3)Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7282-3509-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2021
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