A 30-year-old text, previously illustrated by Doris Burn, loses nothing to age and is enlivened by the brisk contemporary palette Cepeda chooses. Skorpen’s small questers find grace notes and pitfalls on their circuit from home to adventure and home again. Their first alternative to conventional housing is a tree, where they enjoy the breeze and the colors and the birdsong, but then they tumble off the branches. A pond comes next, and its delights are dampened when the three sink along with their raft. The cave has bears as well as cool green moss and possibilities for exploration. Lastly, the seashore, with its castles and warm sand and surfsong—and turning tides. Home again, they find that it looks pretty good, and doubtless full of treasure and frustrations. The brilliant illustrations add a further beckoning note; if the wild looks this good, it’s worth a try. (Picture book. 2-6)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-399-23016-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1999
One of a four-book series designed to help the very young prepare for new siblings, this title presents a toddler-and-mother pair (the latter heavily pregnant) as they read about new babies, sort hand-me-downs, buy new toys, visit the obstetrician and the sonographer, speculate and wait. Throughout, the child asks questions and makes exclamations with complete enthusiasm: “How big is the baby? What does it eat? I felt it move! Is it a boy or girl?” Fuller’s jolly pictures present a biracial family that thoroughly enjoys every moment together. It’s a bit oversimplified, but no one can complain about the positive message it conveys, appropriately, to its baby and toddler audience. The other titles in the New Baby series are My New Baby (ISBN: 978-1-84643-276-7), Look at Me! (ISBN: 978-1-84643-278-1) and You and Me (ISBN: 978-1-84643-277-4). (Board book. 18 mos.-3)
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-84643-275-0
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Child's Play
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
From Rylant (In Aunt Lucy’s Kitchen, 1998, etc.), a gentle rhyming book for the very young. Mrs. and Mr. Bunny and their numerous offspring find a charming bungalow in a deep gully near a river and move right in. The bunnies set about making the house a home: painting it a pale green, planting a garden, and installing a carrot weathervane. Soon the interior is cozy too, as Mrs. Bunny knits bunny quilts, moves a comfortable rocker into the parlor, and invites bunnies to snuggle on a big couch while she reads poetry aloud. Mr. Bunny helps with bath time, takes the little bunnies fishing, and finds time to sit on the porch swing with his offspring, watching fireflies. The story ends as softly as it begins, in watercolors that are warm and full of childlike humor. Children will identify with the thumb-sucking middle bunny, the bed-bouncing bunny in striped pajamas, and the baby who tosses his bottle out of the crib for the father to pick up. A fetching bedtime book, as snug as they come. (Fiction. 4-6)
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-15-201092-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1999
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