A flawed presentation but one that will nevertheless please young dinophiles.
Spin the wheel to make some fun dino creations!
The top right corner of this board book has been replaced with a sturdy wheel that can be rotated to help children discover missing parts of the dinosaurs presented (“Don’t mix up my dinosaur! Her horns are rough and rigid.” “Don’t mix up my dinosaur! His club is lumpy and bumpy”). With each new page, readers turn the wheel to find the matching part: a horn with a corrugated texture, a club with raised bumps, a pink furry tail, a sparkly crest, and a tail with a slightly raised texture. It’s an engaging book that children will love—especially dinosaur fanatics—but there are a few stumbles. On the back page, five of the dinosaurs are identified by name, but the dino on the cover (who appears to be a Tyrannosaurus rex) is not included. A thumbnail of each dinosaur in the book is depicted on the back of the wheel, but the placement doesn’t always correspond to the answer. This isn’t a huge issue, but it does mean some extra turning to ensure a correct answer. Some of the vocabulary clues aren’t always exact. The “lumpy and bumpy” Ankylosaurus club looks “shiny and shimmery” like the Parasaurolophus. Though small, these quibbles add up to a few distractions from an otherwise wonderful book.
A flawed presentation but one that will nevertheless please young dinophiles. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Jan. 17, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-66435-051-9
Page Count: 10
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: Nov. 28, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2022
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
This will have readers putting on their dancing shoes to do the “cha cha cha” with their dino-babies
It's not the first time dinosaurs have been featured in a clever Boynton board book. It seems she—and we—can't get enough.
As her fans know, Boynton has a sly wit that respects the intelligence of her young fans and amuses the adults asked to “read it again.” In this book she introduces nine dinosaurs, each of which dances in a way that seems totally appropriate for that particular species. “The blue Stegosaurus goes SHIMMY SHIMMY SHAKE. / The red Brontosaurus goes QUIVERY QUAKE.” Drawing on her experience as a children’s musician, she writes a text that trips along like a song with rhymes that make sense but don't intrude. The illustrations, typical Boynton, reflect her greeting-card background. They are cartoonish but manage to capture the unique personality of each creature. The unnamed dinosaur narrator looks genuinely distraught at not being able to name the “tiny little dino” that “goes DEEDLY DEE.” Spoiler alert: the tiny little dinosaur is probably Compsognathus and would be about the size of a small chicken. Young dinophiles would be impressed if the dinosaurologists in their lives could supply that factoid, but alas, they will have to look it up.
This will have readers putting on their dancing shoes to do the “cha cha cha” with their dino-babies . (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-8099-4
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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