A winner.
Lifting flaps reveal the simple geometry underlying the world around us.
This charming and seemingly indestructible board book introduces a variety of basic shapes and relates them to common objects in our homes, yards, and environs. Inquisitive young readers will love the interactive design of this book. When little hands pull the folded flap, a circle becomes a stylized apple, complete with worm, and a plain square becomes an artist’s colorful canvas, replete with possibility. Think of this book as a pop-up book for toddlers. The shapes and concepts start simply and become increasingly complex, continuing with “rectangle,” “triangle,” “star,” and “spiral,” as well as more specialized shapes such as “heart,” “diamond,” “raindrop,” and “rosette”—this last illustrated with a blooming flower. These are followed by composites (a triangle and a rectangle form a birdhouse; circles and a triangle make up a snowman) and groups (three triangles become a fir tree, for example). The text introduces a vocabulary of basic forms, while the simple, elegant illustrations afford caregivers and children an opportunity to identify sharks, fish, birds, kites, and other objects and creatures sure to interest children. Some of the transformations are, perhaps, far-fetched—not everyone might agree that a cow’s muzzle resembles a heart, for instance—but the bright pastel colors and whimsical execution more than compensate. Companion volume Numbers uses the same design principle, but busy compositions skew it toward a slightly older audience.
A winner. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: April 4, 2017
ISBN: 978-2-7459-8173-8
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Twirl/Chronicle
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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