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
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
BOOK REVIEW
As with many holiday gifts, the sparkly packaging may interest toddlers more than what’s inside.
Readers can count down eight of Santa's reindeer as they jump up and out of the scene.
In each one of the mostly double-page spreads, one reindeer, from Dasher to Blitzen, plays a central role in a winter activity (sledding, ski jumping, ice skating—and soccer and yoga?) that launches the creature into the air. Glitter-speckled tabs, each with small portraits of a member of Santa's herd, appear at either the top or the right side of each page, which little fingers will enjoy flipping. In what looks to be pencil-and-watercolor cartoons, Rogers uses different facial expressions, as well as collars, bows or other accessories, to distinguish the reindeer from one another. Donner (not Donder) and Blitzen are squeezed together on the penultimate spread, likely to keep the page count down. The verse mostly scans, but the rhyme scheme has become the cliché of counting books: "Eight jolly reindeer / stretching up to heaven. / Up goes Dasher / and then there are... // Seven...." Santa, his iconic sleigh and the eight reindeer in flight make a dramatic and required appearance on the book's final double-page spread.
As with many holiday gifts, the sparkly packaging may interest toddlers more than what’s inside. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Aug. 10, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-545-65145-5
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Sept. 2, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
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