For peekaboo fans ready for a lift-the-flap book.
Seven flaps hide seven friends.
Sharply outfitted anthropomorphic animals play a game of hide-and-seek. Riley the narwhal has a red-striped T-shirt. Elijah the elephant wears glasses and a tie. Gabriel the giraffe sports a bow tie with a windowpane plaid shirt. Mia, the purple monkey dancing on a bed in a red-and-white skirt, and Layla, the llama sleeping under a bed, are the only “friends” with stereotypically female names. (Some readers will be dismayed to see yet another anthropomorphic monkey in a children’s book.) The red fox, Mateo, wears a pearl necklace. Paisley the octopus wears a hat and apron. Children familiar with earlier books in the Beginning Baby series (Welcome to Shape School!; Smile Baby!; and 10 Hugs and Kisses, all published in 2021) may remember these characters, but they will not have achieved celebrity status for most youngsters. A visible bit of tail, ear, paw, hoof, or tentacle hints at where to find the half-circle cutouts to lift the large flaps built into these pages. Small fingers may have difficulty with this fine-motor skill. Detailed domestic scenes offer clues about what each animal was doing before hiding. Objects shown are not labeled. In fact, after a three-sentence explanation of the game, the only text is a verbal cue (“Who is under…?”). The friends are together again on the final spread with an invitation: “Let’s play again soon.”
For peekaboo fans ready for a lift-the-flap book. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7972-0369-0
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2021
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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