Saccharine and ephemeral.
The 10 felt flaps in this board book seem incidental to its message of love.
Little fingers will quickly grasp the heart-shaped cover cutout decorating a polka-dot cat. Within, whimsical animals set against pastel backgrounds illustrate rhyming text printed in a clean but light all-caps type. The rhymes mostly work, though “Surrounded by a curlicue. / Or playing games of peekaboo” doesn’t exactly slide smoothly off the tongue. The felt tab on each spread is a gimmick, inessential to the narrative. The initial heart hides a bouquet of flowers. A pink elephant’s felt ear hides a baby elephant. One of the panda papa’s arms is felt, barely covering two pink cubs. Young children may miss a baby panda on the opposite page being carried in the mama panda’s mouth. A lion cub hides behind a larger lion’s felt mane, though in real life mane-free mother lions are the protectors. Turquoise felt mittens hiding brown fingers decorated with rings and rainbow-colored fingernails grace the spread with the most awkward rhyme: “A helpful hand, a gentle squeeze. / Love is kindness, comfort, peace.” On the final spread, decorated with animals, hearts, flowers, rainbows, and faces with varied skin tones, a pink felt speech bubble hides the words, “You are loved.” The felt flaps, while tactile and inviting, also stretch when pulled.
Saccharine and ephemeral. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4521-7260-6
Page Count: 18
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
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
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An excellent, rounded effort from a creator who knows how to deliver.
The farmyard's chickens experience Halloween.
A round, full moon shines in the sky, and the chickens of Boynton's barnyard are feeling “nervous.” Pumpkins shine “with flickering eyes,” witches and wizards wander the pastures, and one chicken has seen “a mouse of enormous size.” It’s Halloween night, and readers will delight as the chickens huddle together and try to figure out what's going on. All ends well, of course, and in Boynton's trademark silly style. (It’s really quite remarkable how her ranks of white, yellow-beaked chickens evoke rows of candy corn.) At this point parents and children know what they're in for when they pick up a book by the prolific author, and she doesn't disappoint here. The chickens are silly, the pigs are cute, and the coloring and illustrations evoke a warmth that little ones wary of Halloween will appreciate. For children leery of the ghouls and goblins lurking in the holiday's iconography, this is a perfect antidote, emphasizing all the fun Halloween has to offer.
An excellent, rounded effort from a creator who knows how to deliver. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Aug. 23, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7611-9300-5
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Workman
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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