Overall, the book’s rhythmic prose, textured visuals, and diverse characters make it an excellent choice for emerging readers
At the end of the day, it’s time for the world’s babies to find their ways home.
As the pages turn in Katz’s (Vroom, Vroom, Trucks! 2016, etc.) latest lift-the-flap board book, the sky fades into darkness as smiling human babies discover where baby animals sleep at night. Each animal’s home and family is hidden behind a flap that folds convincingly into the colorful scenery. Many of the animals in the book—including birds, bunnies, squirrels, and ducks—can be found in readers’ backyards. Throughout the story, the sun progressively sets, leading to a final, double-gatefold spread of a diverse group of human babies snuggling with their caregivers in houses tucked beneath a starry, moonlit sky. Katz’s combination of clear, simple language and bold, patterned illustrations render this book enjoyable for young readers to both see and hear. Particularly laudable is Katz’s inclusion of racially diverse characters, including black and Asian babies and their parents, though there’s no obvious evidence of adoptive or multiracial families. The narrative cleverly intertwines developmentally appropriate subjects that young children particularly enjoy, including animals, babies, and bedtime rituals. Unfortunately, some of the flaps are difficult for small hands to manipulate.
Overall, the book’s rhythmic prose, textured visuals, and diverse characters make it an excellent choice for emerging readers . (Board book. 1-4)Pub Date: Dec. 19, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5344-0088-7
Page Count: 14
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2018
Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come.
Little Blue Truck and his pal Toad meet friends old and new on a springtime drive through the country.
This lift-the-flap, interactive entry in the popular Little Blue Truck series lacks the narrative strength and valuable life lessons of the original Little Blue Truck (2008) and its sequel, Little Blue Truck Leads the Way (2009). Both of those books, published for preschoolers rather than toddlers, featured rich storylines, dramatic, kinetic illustrations, and simple but valuable life lessons—the folly of taking oneself too seriously, the importance of friends, and the virtue of taking turns, for example. At about half the length and with half as much text as the aforementioned titles, this volume is a much quicker read. Less a story than a vernal celebration, the book depicts a bucolic drive through farmland and encounters with various animals and their young along the way. Beautifully rendered two-page tableaux teem with butterflies, blossoms, and vibrant pastel, springtime colors. Little Blue greets a sheep standing in the door of a barn: “Yoo-hoo, Sheep! / Beep-beep! / What’s new?” Folding back the durable, card-stock flap reveals the barn’s interior and an adorable set of twin lambs. Encounters with a duck and nine ducklings, a cow with a calf, a pig with 10 (!) piglets, a family of bunnies, and a chicken with a freshly hatched chick provide ample opportunity for counting and vocabulary work.
Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come. (Board book. 1-4)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-544-93809-0
Page Count: 16
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
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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
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