Fun but probably not the best book to read aloud to little ones immediately before bedtime.
Wakeful babes, unite and toddle on!
The nefarious forces of sleep are working hard to entice babies into a deep slumber, but light-skinned Wide-Awake Baby is determined to overcome them. She’s assembled a stalwart army of pajama-clad Midnight Babies to ensure they remain awake all night. Armed with noisemakers, this defiant band makes its cacophonous way through enemy lines. The terrain is treacherous: There’s the Forest of Nightlights, the Sea of Stories, the Garden of Lullabies, the Rockabye River, and, finally, the perilous shores of Nodoff with its menacing Army of Teddies. Unsurprisingly, one baby after another succumbs to temptation along the way and slips into blissful snoozing until Wide-Awake Baby is alone. Finally, even she falls deeply asleep, giving in to the ever so heavenly Cuddle. She finds herself in the land of Sleep, surrounded by frolicking Midnight Babies, enjoying games and treats galore; they’re all unable to remember why they tried so hard not to go there. Next morning, Wide-Awake Baby, having been duped, determines to put up resistance again that very night. This clever, tongue-in-cheek story will be best appreciated by parents familiar with sleep-delaying tactics. Very small tots may not pick up on the tricky niceties—yet. The dynamic, cartoony pencil-and-charcoal illustrations, colored digitally, are lively and imaginative and feature lots of endearing, wide-eyed, racially diverse infants. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Fun but probably not the best book to read aloud to little ones immediately before bedtime. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: June 13, 2023
ISBN: 9781419759543
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2023
Parents of toddlers starting school or day care should seek separation-anxiety remedies elsewhere, and fans of the original...
A sweetened, condensed version of the best-selling picture book, The Kissing Hand.
As in the original, Chester Raccoon is nervous about attending Owl’s night school (raccoons are nocturnal). His mom kisses him on the paw and reminds him, “With a Kissing Hand… / We’ll never be apart.” The text boils the story down to its key elements, causing this version to feel rushed. Gone is the list of fun things Chester will get to do at school. Fans of the original may be disappointed that this board edition uses a different illustrator. Gibson’s work is equally sentimental, but her renderings are stiff and flat in comparison to the watercolors of Harper and Leak. Very young readers will probably not understand that Owl’s tree, filled with opossums, a squirrel, a chipmunk and others, is supposed to be a school.
Parents of toddlers starting school or day care should seek separation-anxiety remedies elsewhere, and fans of the original shouldn’t look to this version as replacement for their page-worn copies. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: April 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-933718-77-4
Page Count: 14
Publisher: Tanglewood Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A heartwarming story about facing fears and acceptance.
A boy with wings learns to be himself and inspires others like him to soar, too.
Norman, a “perfectly normal” boy, never dreamed he might grow wings. Afraid of what his parents might say, he hides his new wings under a big, stuffy coat. Although the coat hides his wings from the world, Norman no longer finds joy in bathtime, playing at the park, swimming, or birthday parties. With the gentle encouragement of his parents, who see his sadness, Norman finds the courage to come out of hiding and soar. Percival (The Magic Looking Glass, 2017, etc.) depicts Norman with light skin and dark hair. Black-and-white illustrations show his father with dark skin and hair and his mother as white. The contrast of black-and-white illustrations with splashes of bright color complements the story’s theme. While Norman tries to be “normal,” the world and people around him look black and gray, but his coat stands out in yellow. Birds pop from the page in pink, green, and blue, emphasizing the joy and beauty of flying free. The final spread, full of bright color and multiracial children in flight, sets the mood for Norman’s realization on the last page that there is “no such thing as perfectly normal,” but he can be “perfectly Norman.”
A heartwarming story about facing fears and acceptance. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: May 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-68119-785-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
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