With its companion, another solid outing for Patricelli’s tot
A board book for toddlers who are almost ready for their first haircuts.
Patricelli’s familiar, light-skinned, oval-headed baby, outlined in black with rosy smudges for cheeks, manages to express a full range of emotion—from pride to fear to worry to surprise and back to pride, all while explaining the importance of hair care. Though this baby has just one curly strand of hair (“I have a hair!”), it still needs to be washed, brushed, and decorated, until it grows so long that it must be cut. Adults may chuckle at the baby’s rejection of the dog groomer for that first haircut, but much of the humor will go right over the heads of toddlers. A final double-page spread illustrates “more kinds of hair” with very unbabyish vocabulary—“unibrow,” “Mohawk”—mixed in among words such as “beard,” and “curly.” The baby’s reasonable question, “Will it hurt?” gives voice to the concerns of toddlers heading to the barber for the first time, and the turn of the page assures them, “It did not hurt!” Nighty-Night (published simultaneously) will have more long-term use. That same one-haired baby rhymes its way through a bedtime-avoidance routine complete with a subtle homage to Goodnight Moon and an exuberant “naked dance.”
With its companion, another solid outing for Patricelli’s tot . (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7636-7931-6
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 18, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017
Perfect for Valentine’s Day, but the syrupy sweetness will cloy after the holiday.
Animal parents declare their love for their offspring in alphabetical order.
Each page displays an enormous capital letter, one line of verse with the keyword capitalized, and a loving nonhuman parent gazing adoringly at their baby. “A is for Always. I always love you more. / B is for Butterfly kisses. It’s you that I adore.” While not named or labelled as such, the A is also for an alligator and its hatchling and B is for a butterfly and a butterfly child (not a caterpillar—biology is not the aim of this title) interacting in some way with the said letter. For E there are an elephant and a calf; U features a unicorn and foal; and X, keyed to the last letter of the animal’s name, corresponds to a fox and three pups. The final double-page spread shows all the featured creatures and their babies as the last line declares: “Baby, I love you from A to Z!” The verse is standard fare and appropriately sentimental. The art is cartoony-cute and populated by suitably loving critters on solid backgrounds. Hearts accent each scene, but the theme of the project is never in any doubt.
Perfect for Valentine’s Day, but the syrupy sweetness will cloy after the holiday. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-7282-2095-6
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2021
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
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