Slightly padded covers and board pages make this a sturdy, albeit optimistic, choice for establishing bedtime routines.
A good-night tour of body parts for the mildly sleep-resistant.
McNeill’s text incorporates a simple mindfulness technique of first noticing, then consciously relaxing each body part to help energetic toddlers slow down enough to fall sleep. Seven perky tots recall their activity-filled days before toddling off to bed. The formula is simple. First there is a question: “Are your toes getting sleepy? Very very sleepy?” This is followed by a description of activities: “All day long they wiggle along—wiggly, wobbly toes.” The final stanza for each body part tells readers, “now it’s time to get some rest,” then reinforces that suggestion, ending with a rhyme. Accompanying illustrations show each pajama-clad child growing progressively quiet and relaxed. Doerrfeld’s palette is bright and cheery. Although the toddlers have different hair and skin tones, all have the same wide eyes and persistently sunny dispositions. They are evenly split, three coded male and three female, with the gender of one being unclear. Activities shown are not limited by gender roles. The only brown-skinned child, a girl, has two fuzzy pigtail puffs.
Slightly padded covers and board pages make this a sturdy, albeit optimistic, choice for establishing bedtime routines. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-338-03072-3
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 18, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017
An upbeat early book on feelings with a simple storyline that little ones will respond to.
This simplified version of Diesen and Hanna’s The Pout-Pout Fish (2008) is appropriate for babies and toddlers.
Brief, rhyming text tells the story of a sullen fish cheered up with a kiss. A little pink sea creature pokes his head out of a hole in the sea bottom to give the gloomy fish some advice: “Smile, Mr. Fish! / You look so down // With your glum-glum face / And your pout-pout frown.” He explains that there’s no reason to be worried, scared, sad or mad and concludes: “How about a smooch? / And a cheer-up wish? // Now you look happy: / What a smile, Mr. Fish!” Simple and sweet, this tale offers the lesson that sometimes, all that’s needed for a turnaround in mood is some cheer and encouragement to change our perspective. The clean, uncluttered illustrations are kept simple, except for the pout-pout fish’s features, which are delightfully expressive. Little ones will easily recognize and likely try to copy the sad, scared and angry looks that cross the fish’s face.
An upbeat early book on feelings with a simple storyline that little ones will respond to. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-374-37084-8
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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