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MAISY'S BUS

From the Go with Maisy series

Another solid, engaging piece from Maisy and Co.

Mouse Maisy drives a green bus to the beach.

The Go with Maisy series continues with this board book and the concurrently published Maisy’s Sailboat. Both books involve Maisy driving a vehicle and picking up friends along the way. The rounded, die-cut book is unusual and pleasant for little readers to hold, making this an excellent read for car or bus rides (though possibly not when out on a sail). As Maisy drives her bus through her town she picks up Tallulah, Dotty, and other friends described by bold, black, childlike text. The stylized illustrations with a primary color palette fill the double-page–spread illustrations with cute, black-outlined images that will engage young readers, especially fans of the white mouse and her pals. The text offers some vocabulary that’s potentially new to readers. Dotty is “the first passenger”; in the final scene, the text crows that “they’ve arrived!” While neither book is an essential addition to the toddler library, both are agreeable-enough reads.

Another solid, engaging piece from Maisy and Co. (Board book. 1-3)

Pub Date: April 25, 2017

ISBN: 978-0-7636-9406-7

Page Count: 18

Publisher: Candlewick

Review Posted Online: March 14, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017

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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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