For armchair travelers newly or not yet out of diapers, Maisy again serves as a safe and comfortably familiar companion with...
Maisy meets smiling animals in habitats from jungle to ocean in her newest First Science Book.
The tour starts in the Arctic, where, with a pull of a large tab, a polar bear yanks a herring out of the water (to the relief, no doubt, of the several onlooking seals), and ends in the Antarctic, where penguins dive for food and lift wings to reveal a chick and an egg. In between, Maisy watches or greets wildlife found in six other world climes. Except for an ostrich on the savanna and an octopus and other denizens of the ocean, the animals on each spread save the last are identified in visual sidebar keys. Throughout, the accompanying narrative offers morsels of background information like “Maisy is very hot in the savanna,” or “Look at all the sand in the desert.” Aside from a double gatefold in the middle that opens to reveal a blue whale, the typically inviting but fragile interactive effects are driven by a pull tab on each recto. They cause meerkats to pop up, a lion to slide out of the tall grass, Maisy and a monkey to swing past one another in the jungle, and other gratifying events.
For armchair travelers newly or not yet out of diapers, Maisy again serves as a safe and comfortably familiar companion with whom to explore the wider world. (Pop-up informational picture book. 18 mos.-3)Pub Date: April 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6989-8
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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