A visual feast for very youngest fans of knights and castles.
An upside-down colander becomes a knight’s helmet and a yawn becomes “ye olde yawn” when a small boy dreamer gets ready for bed.
Every spread of this visually stunning British import is suitable for framing. Hip, stylized, beautifully composed cut-paper collages (dubbed “digital media” in the small print) evoke the rich ornamentation of any self-respecting medieval fantasy, all saturated in a warm palette of deep gold, burgundy, rusts and oranges on what looks like handmade paper. The 70-word text itself chronicles the boy’s bedtime ritual in the briefest, most perfunctory fashion: “For a knight like me, going to bed… / is a great adventure,” the boy begins. The armored knight gallops on horseback past paintings and a hat rack, down the hallway of his family home, which gradually transforms into a wild wood, complete with a fox. His pre-bedtime bath involves navigating the tentacles of a giant squid. (The touchstone to reality is the bathtub plug that doubles as an undersea anchor.) The boy knight brushes his teeth while hopping atop the snapping jaws of crocodiles. When he finally climbs into bed (up a turret, of course!) and turns out the lights, he concludes, “Though it has been a great adventure… / even a knight needs a good night’s sleep.”
A visual feast for very youngest fans of knights and castles. (Picture book. 2-4)Pub Date: March 27, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5838-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Templar/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Jan. 3, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Though slight, this story has compensatory interactive components and characters that are time-tested kid-pleasers.
Poor Mark the shark can’t make any friends because all the other fish are frightened of his teeth.
When a crab pinches Mark’s tail, Mark gets angry and yells for all the fish to come out: “If you won’t be my friends, then you’ll be my dinner!” At this, a concerned octopus reaches out to Mark, accidentally tickling him and making him laugh. When the other fish hear the shark laugh, they realize he’s not actually scary after all, and suddenly, Mark has lots of fishy friends. Each double-page spread has a slider, allowing readers to move the shark’s teeth up and down by pulling a tab, making him cry, chomp, and laugh. Companion volume Dino Chomp, also featuring big biting teeth operated by sliders, tells the story of a T. Rex tricked out of his dinner. Both titles suffer from flimsy plots and generic art, depending on the interactivity of the moving mouths to draw kids in. Considering how satisfying it is to make those teeth go chomp, chomp, chomp, though, it may be enough.
Though slight, this story has compensatory interactive components and characters that are time-tested kid-pleasers. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: June 2, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4998-0107-1
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Little Bee Books
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Interactive features carry this unicorn board book for toddlers.
Unicorns, rainbows, and interactive features come together in this durable board book.
A perky unicorn graces the cover, and the wheel integrated in the cover page can be used to rotate the sparkly, colorful lines on her rainbow mane, tail, and hooves for a pleasant striped effect. “A unicorn skipped out one day, / spreading magic on her way.” The rainbow unicorn wanders through her enchanted land, chasing away the clouds, stopping rain, and fixing torn fairy wings. Text is sparse, just one sentence-cum-couplet on each of the four double-page spreads, offering little substance for toddlers and not fully connecting with the illustrations. Cartoony illustrations are colorful yet simplistic, reminiscent of animated children’s television programming. Wafting clouds of stars represent unicorn magic, with birds, flowers, pale-skinned fairies, butterflies, and other insects scattered throughout. The final double-page spread shows a herd of unicorns of different colors frolicking together. Beyond the wheel on the cover, other interactive mechanisms include smooth pull-out tabs and sturdy sliders, which toddlers may easily enjoy while developing motor skills. The turn-push-pull-slide features of this book are developmentally perfect for the age, and they are the true adventure in this sturdy book. It’s a shame the text and illustrations fail to deliver in terms of edutainment and pale in comparison to the interactive features.
Interactive features carry this unicorn board book for toddlers. (Novelty board book. 2-4)Pub Date: Feb. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3729-9
Page Count: 8
Publisher: Abrams Appleseed
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
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