The very simple text, easy-to-manage lift-the-flap fun, and the focus on farm animals and their sounds make this chunky...
In this refreshingly simple lift-the-flap offering, friendly animals play hide-and-seek all around the farm.
“Who’s that in the barn?” Eager little hands will lift the large barn-shaped flap to reveal “a friendly cow! Moo! Moo!” On the following pages, they’ll find a “noisy rooster” behind a bucket, a “hungry horse” behind some trees and a “woolly sheep” next to the hay. On the final spread, a “happy pig” hides inside a stall. For an extra surprise, the pig itself is a second flap concealing five adorable piglets. Parts of each animal appear behind the flaps—the back end of a cow, one horse’s hoof and a sheep’s ear, for example—providing little hints that will inspire kids to guess which creature is hiding there. The hidden animals all look cheerful and friendly, and the illustrations are a series of simple, idyllic farm scenes with lots of additional animals for kids to spot and identify, including birds, a ladybug, an owl, a spider, some mice and more. Publishing simultaneously, Woof! Woof! takes readers on a similar tour of a welcoming backyard well-stocked with pets.
The very simple text, easy-to-manage lift-the-flap fun, and the focus on farm animals and their sounds make this chunky offering a solid choice for babies and toddlers. (Board book. 6 mos.-2)Pub Date: Feb. 11, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-7636-7066-5
Page Count: 10
Publisher: Nosy Crow
Review Posted Online: Feb. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own...
The sturdy Little Blue Truck is back for his third adventure, this time delivering Christmas trees to his band of animal pals.
The truck is decked out for the season with a Christmas wreath that suggests a nose between headlights acting as eyeballs. Little Blue loads up with trees at Toad’s Trees, where five trees are marked with numbered tags. These five trees are counted and arithmetically manipulated in various ways throughout the rhyming story as they are dropped off one by one to Little Blue’s friends. The final tree is reserved for the truck’s own use at his garage home, where he is welcomed back by the tree salestoad in a neatly circular fashion. The last tree is already decorated, and Little Blue gets a surprise along with readers, as tiny lights embedded in the illustrations sparkle for a few seconds when the last page is turned. Though it’s a gimmick, it’s a pleasant surprise, and it fits with the retro atmosphere of the snowy country scenes. The short, rhyming text is accented with colored highlights, red for the animal sounds and bright green for the numerical words in the Christmas-tree countdown.
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own tree that will put a twinkle in a toddler’s eyes. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-32041-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 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
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