For new siblings who are pretty solid in knowing their body parts.
Andreae and Dodd continue to explore family relationships (I Love My Mommy, 2011; I Love My Daddy, 2012) with this look at the towheaded toddler’s love for his new sibling.
The young boy’s adoration for the new addition is obvious from the start. Readers follow the boy and his loving parents as they dress the baby, drive to a pool to swim, get dried off and eat, go for a walk, give the baby a bath, and tuck the wee one into bed. Along the way, the boy counts all the parts the baby has: “two little cheeks on one little bum,” “eight squashy knuckles,” and “one kissy mouth” being just a few. But although Dodd’s signature illustrations are as adorable and child-friendly as ever, not all the body parts counted in the text can be found in the pictures, making this a frustrating read for those eager to point them out to their own loving adults or siblings. For instance, the baby’s mouth is an upward, lipless swoosh, the baby’s head is turned so only one ear shows, and all of the mentioned parts are under a blanket when the baby is ensconced in the carriage. Plus, younger readers may not know chest, ankles, and hips. Children familiar with the other two titles may fruitlessly look for the boy’s purple stuffed duck in every illustration—it only appears in half of them.
For new siblings who are pretty solid in knowing their body parts. (Picture book. 2-4)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4847-2230-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Sept. 20, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2015
Innovative and thoroughly enjoyable.
You think you know shapes? Animals? Blend them together, and you might see them both a little differently!
What a mischievous twist on a concept book! With wordplay and a few groan-inducing puns, Neal creates connections among animals and shapes that are both unexpected and so seemingly obvious that readers might wonder why they didn’t see them all along. Of course, a “lazy turtle” meeting an oval would create the side-splitting combo of a “SLOW-VAL.” A dramatic page turn transforms a deeply saturated, clean-lined green oval by superimposing a head and turtle shell atop, with watery blue ripples completing the illusion. Minimal backgrounds and sketchy, impressionistic detailing keep the focus right on the zany animals. Beginning with simple shapes, the geometric forms become more complicated as the book advances, taking readers from a “soaring bird” that meets a triangle to become a “FLY-ANGLE” to a “sleepy lion” nonagon “YAWN-AGON.” Its companion text, Animal Colors, delves into color theory, this time creating entirely hybrid animals, such as the “GREEN WHION” with maned head and whale’s tail made from a “blue whale and a yellow lion.” It’s a compelling way to visualize color mixing, and like Animal Shapes, it’s got verve. Who doesn’t want to shout out that a yellow kangaroo/green moose blend is a “CHARTREUSE KANGAMOOSE”?
Innovative and thoroughly enjoyable. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: March 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4998-0534-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little Bee Books
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
It’s nothing new, but it’s also clearly heartfelt.
A love song from parents to their child.
This title will seem quite similar to the many others about parents’ deep love for their children. The text is wholly composed of first-person declarations of parental love, and it’s juxtaposed with illustrations of the child with one or both parents. It’s not always clear who the “I” speaking is, and there are a few pages that instead use “we.” Most sentences begin with “I love you more” phrasing to communicate that nothing could undermine parental love: “I love you more than all the sleepless nights…and all the early, tired mornings.” The accompanying pictures depict the child as a baby with weary parents. Later spreads show the child growing up, and the phrasing shifts away from the challenges of parenting to its joys and to attempts to quantify love: “I love you more than all the blades of grass at the park…and all the soccer that we played.” Throughout, Bell’s illustrations use pastel tones and soft visual texture to depict cozy, wholesome scenes that are largely redundant of the straightforward, warm text. They feature a brown-haired family with a mother, father, and child, who all appear to be white (though the father has skin that’s a shade darker than the others’).
It’s nothing new, but it’s also clearly heartfelt. (Picture book. 2-4)Pub Date: Aug. 14, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4998-0652-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little Bee Books
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
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