A thoughtful, versatile celebration of love that allows for playful toddler handling.
Animal caregivers show affection for little ones with the help of sturdy movable flaps.
The titular “little moo” is a brown calf who appears on the opening double-page spread in a field facing away from an adult Holstein with horns and eyelashes. The calf is on a shaped flap, and when the flap is opened, the youngster appears to move back across the field to nuzzle its caregiver. On subsequent pages further animals are animated by the flip of a flap and given nicknames based on their sounds. A pig and a piglet (called “little oink) wallow in the mud; a duck enfolds two ducklings with its wings; a horse and foal gaze at each other; and a cat and kitten curl up together for bedtime. Each of these double-page spreads is accompanied by four lines of rhymed, sentimental verse with the final line appearing under the flap. Done in a harmoniously muted palette, Deo’s appealingly stocky, wide-eyed creatures and simplified backgrounds suit the feel of the text. Many of the young critters don’t match the coloring of their full-grown caregivers, allowing this title to work for families in a variety of configurations (children who were adopted, children in foster care, etc.). Toddlers will likely respond to the extra-sturdy flaps, which will survive robust interaction.
A thoughtful, versatile celebration of love that allows for playful toddler handling. (Board book. 6 mos.-3)Pub Date: Dec. 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-68010-624-4
Page Count: 10
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: Dec. 17, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
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