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FARM

From the My First Touch and Feel series

A cheery, interactive offering that serves tots well by bringing a selection of interesting sensations right to their eager...

This rhyming, tactile title introduces little ones to life on a farm.

Short, rhyming verses highlight standard elements of farm life, such as a galloping horse, hatching chicks, a round pumpkin, a crowing rooster, a scarecrow, a snoozing cat, and more. Crisp, photographic images appear against white or brightly colored backgrounds, and each double-page spread incorporates some sort of textured area for little ones to engage their senses of touch. Some of the tactile sections are very obvious, such as the soft down on one of the fluffy chicks or the sheep’s fleece, while others are more difficult to detect, like the slightly bumpy tractor tires and goat’s horns. Textures include everything from the standard—furry, wooly, silky, and bumpy—to the unusual, such as a sticky bit of honey. The tactile areas convey what each item might feel like in the real world, with the notable exception of the drops of water and the stars, which do a better job conveying the appearances of these items—shiny!—than their actual textures.

A cheery, interactive offering that serves tots well by bringing a selection of interesting sensations right to their eager little fingertips. (Board book. 1-3)

Pub Date: March 1, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-58925-559-3

Page Count: 24

Publisher: Tiger Tales

Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2015

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SPOOKY POOKIE

A pleasant holiday spent with a perfectly charming character.

One of Boynton's signature characters celebrates Halloween.

It's Halloween time, and Pookie the pig is delighted. Mom helps the little porker pick out the perfect Halloween costume, a process that spans the entire board book. Using an abcb rhyme scheme, Boynton dresses Pookie in a series of cheerful costumes, including a dragon, a bunny, and even a caped superhero. Pookie eventually settles on the holiday classic, a ghost, by way of a bedsheet. Boynton sprinkles in amusing asides to her stanzas as Pookie offers costume commentary ("It's itchy"; "It's hot"; "I feel silly"). Little readers will enjoy the notion of transforming themselves with their own Halloween costumes while reading this book, and a few parents may get some ideas as well. Boynton's clean, sharp illustrations are as good as ever. This is Pookie's first holiday title, but readers will surely welcome more.

A pleasant holiday spent with a perfectly charming character. (Board book. 1-3)

Pub Date: July 7, 2015

ISBN: 978-0-553-51233-5

Page Count: 18

Publisher: Robin Corey/Random

Review Posted Online: July 26, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016

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EEK! HALLOWEEN!

An excellent, rounded effort from a creator who knows how to deliver.

The farmyard's chickens experience Halloween.

A round, full moon shines in the sky, and the chickens of Boynton's barnyard are feeling “nervous.” Pumpkins shine “with flickering eyes,” witches and wizards wander the pastures, and one chicken has seen “a mouse of enormous size.” It’s Halloween night, and readers will delight as the chickens huddle together and try to figure out what's going on. All ends well, of course, and in Boynton's trademark silly style. (It’s really quite remarkable how her ranks of white, yellow-beaked chickens evoke rows of candy corn.) At this point parents and children know what they're in for when they pick up a book by the prolific author, and she doesn't disappoint here. The chickens are silly, the pigs are cute, and the coloring and illustrations evoke a warmth that little ones wary of Halloween will appreciate. For children leery of the ghouls and goblins lurking in the holiday's iconography, this is a perfect antidote, emphasizing all the fun Halloween has to offer.

An excellent, rounded effort from a creator who knows how to deliver. (Board book. 1-3)

Pub Date: Aug. 23, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-7611-9300-5

Page Count: 24

Publisher: Workman

Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017

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