While the first book executed this gimmick more successfully (there are only so many words that rhyme with “Boo”), this...
The follow-up to the long-lived and much-loved Peek-a-Who? (2000) is finally here.
As with the first book, a game of peekaboo plays out through die-cut holes that allow readers a glimpse through one right-hand page to the next. Only a patterned coat, a feathered head or pair of eyes is visible through the hole. The words “Peek-a” and the partial image are an invitation to guess, and the page turn reveals the entire creature. The animals are typical zoo animals, and either their names or some attribute rhymes with the “Boo” (a kangaroo mommy/joey dyad, a cockatoo, a tiger that “mews” and a panda that chews on “bamboo”). On one of the final pages, part of a Mylar mirror is visible through the hole with a sign reading “Please feed the animal!” hanging below, clipped to what looks like bars on a cage. When the page is turned, a nearly full Mylar panel is revealed with the complete phrase “Peek-a / you, too!” now visible. Laden’s boldly colored gouache art, which has the look of prints, uses the signature style found in the original.
While the first book executed this gimmick more successfully (there are only so many words that rhyme with “Boo”), this companion title is a welcome pairing. (Board book. 6 mos.-2)Pub Date: March 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4521-1175-9
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 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
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
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