Playground fun becomes much more through the eyes of a child in this simple story.
A young child recounts a series of playful endeavors to an adult companion as they walk hand in hand through a city.
The story follows the narrator’s journey around various playground activities and provides a window into a child’s creativity. In the retelling of the day, swinging on a swingset becomes flying, a slide becomes a snowy mountainside, a pond becomes an ocean, and a tunnel becomes a dark cave. Especially sweet is the image of the imagined jungle animals following the pair home from the park as the child enjoys a piggyback ride. Relationships between characters are left open to interpretation. The child waves goodbye to the adult from the park and is embraced by someone new, maybe a parent or caregiver. Duke’s line drawings are set against simple, often abstract backgrounds in cool tones. The illustrations’ muted color palette paired with the minimalist prose gives the story a subdued feeling even though it centers on play and imagination. Readers don’t learn many details about the characters in this story, but children of color, a child who uses a wheelchair, and an adult with a hearing aid are depicted. The protagonist has straight, black hair and light-brown skin; the adult companion has somewhat darker-brown skin, and the adult at home presents white.
Playground fun becomes much more through the eyes of a child in this simple story. (Picture book. 1-4)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-78628-201-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Child's Play
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
Not a great choice for the youngest dinosaur lovers.
A board-book ode to parental love as old as the dinosaurs.
A line of text on the left of each spread reads like a dinosaur-themed valentine that a third grader might choose, with punishingly punny wordplay that incorporates dinosaur-related words. On the facing page a dinosaur pair—a baby and an adult—gaze lovingly into each other’s eyes against whimsical, pastel-hued prehistoric-ish backgrounds. In smaller print, in all caps, at the bottom of the left page is the scientific name for the dinosaur referenced by the text and picture followed by a helpful phonetic pronunciation guide. White-outlined footprints appear next to their names, though the white is sometimes difficult to see against the pastel pages. Ten of the best-known dinosaurs are included. Twisting the dinosaur names to fit the loving sentiments succeeds some of the time but more often results in tortured text, well beyond the understanding of the board book audience. The line accompanying two hugging velociraptors, for instance, is just confusing: “Wrap-TOR arms around me, / with you I’ll always stay.” Others are just plain clumsy: “I-wanna-GUANODON you kisses, / I truly just adore you.” Very young children, even those fascinated by dinosaurs, will not get it. Older dinosaur fans will be put off by the babyish format.
Not a great choice for the youngest dinosaur lovers. (Board book. 18 mos.-3)Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7282-2295-0
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This TV rerun in board-book form has nothing new to offer.
Peppa hopes to join her classmates in a Halloween pumpkin competition in this adaptation of a story from the popular British television program Peppa Pig.
With the help of Granny and Grandpa Pig, Peppa turns her giant pumpkin, which is the size of a compact car, into a jack-o’-lantern. The trio is flummoxed when it comes time to transport the pumpkin to the competition, so they call on Miss Rabbit and her helicopter to airlift the pumpkin to the festivities as Peppa and her grandparents ride inside. Peppa arrives just in time for the contest and wins the prize for best flying pumpkin. The scenes look as if they are pulled directly from the television show, right down to the rectangular framing of some of the scenes. While the story is literally nothing new, the text is serviceable, describing the action in two to three sentences per page. The pumpkin-shaped book and orange foil cover will likely attract youngsters, whether they are Peppa fans or not.
This TV rerun in board-book form has nothing new to offer. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: July 30, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-33922-2
Page Count: 10
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2019
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