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MOUSE IS SMALL

Name: MOUSE IS SMALL
Author: Mary Murphy
ISBN: 978-0-7636-9059-5

by Mary Murphy ; illustrated by Mary Murphy ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 15, 2017

A winning reminder that sometimes the little guy comes out on top.

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Size isn’t everything!

This well-designed board book is a short read that offers big entertainment for little readers. A series of endearing critters of sequentially increasing dimension, presented on pages of likewise increasing proportion, introduce the concept of relative size. Murphy’s simple and easily grasped line drawings have a degree of charm and personality well in excess of their sparse detail. Mouse and friends, Tortoise, Pelican, Zebra, Elephant, and Spider, inhabit brightly colored, monochromatic two-page spreads, each die-cut page on the right slightly larger than the page that preceded it. The pages are thick, very stiff, and easy for even rough little hands to grip and turn without tearing. The text is basic, easily assimilated, and well-matched to the illustrations. The flip-flap gimmick of graduated page size should encourage toddlers to enjoy this book both with their caregivers and independently. The parade of ever larger animals reaches an unexpected conclusion with an amusing reminder that bigger isn’t always better. This volume will be a quick read at bedtime, but it has the potential to become a real favorite of aspiring young readers and page-turners, and it should stand up well to significant abuse from typical toddlers.

A winning reminder that sometimes the little guy comes out on top. (Board book. 1-3)

Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2017

ISBN: 978-0-7636-9059-5

Page Count: 14

Publisher: Candlewick

Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2018

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS

- BOOK REVIEW
WHAT I LIKE MOST
by Mary Murphy ; illustrated by Zhu Cheng-Liang

- BOOK REVIEW
ONLY A TREE KNOWS HOW TO BE A TREE
by Mary Murphy ; illustrated by Mary Murphy

- BOOK REVIEW
GOOD NIGHT LIKE THIS
by Mary Murphy ; illustrated by Mary Murphy

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SMILE, POUT-POUT FISH

by Deborah Diesen ; illustrated by Dan Hanna ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 7, 2014

An upbeat early book on feelings with a simple storyline that little ones will respond to.

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
THE WORRY-WORRY WHALE AND THE CLASSROOM JITTERS
by Deborah Diesen ; illustrated by Dan Hanna

- BOOK REVIEW
POUT-POUT FISH
by Deborah Diesen ; illustrated by Dan Hanna

- BOOK REVIEW
THE POUT-POUT FISH AND THE MAD, MAD DAY
by Deborah Diesen ; illustrated by Dan Hanna

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ALL ABOUT ME

From the Look & Learn series

by National Geographic ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 11, 2014

Clear nonfiction for the very young is hard to come by, and it appears that the Look & Learn series may finally be on...

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An exploration of the human body through colorful photos.

Every other double-page spread labels the individual parts on one major area: head, torso, back, arm and leg. Ethnically diverse boy-girl pairs serve as models as arrows point to specific features and captions float nearby. While the book usefully mentions rarely depicted body parts, such as eyebrow, armpit and shin, some of the directional arrows are unclear. The arrow pointing at a girl’s shoulder hits her in the upper arm, and the belly button is hard is distinguish from the stomach (both are concealed by shirts). Facts about the human body (“Guess what? You have tiny hairs in your nose that keep out dirt”) appear on alternating spreads along with photos of kids in action. Baby Animals, another title in the Look & Learn series, uses an identical format to introduce readers to seal pups, leopard cubs, elephant calves, ducklings and tadpoles. In both titles, the final spread offers a review of the information and encourages readers to match baby animals to their parents or find body parts on a photo of kids jumping on a trampoline.

Clear nonfiction for the very young is hard to come by, and it appears that the Look & Learn series may finally be on the right track despite earlier titles that were much too conceptual for the audience. (Board book. 18 mos.-3)