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LITTLE BUBBA LOOKS FOR HIS ELEPHANT

From the Tiny Tab series

Sturdy, engaging fun.

This Tiny Tab book offers toddlers a playful interactive game of hide-and-seek with substantial, oversized tabs.

Elly, Little Bubba’s toy elephant, has gone missing at her boy’s multispecies preschool, and the little frog must search the classroom to find her. Four large, semicircular tabs poke out from the side and top of the book, partially hiding the faces of his fellow animal classmates. Once pulled, the tabs reveal the entire creature and another friend or toy that is hiding in a die-cut section at the center of the page. Mrs. Jones, Bubba’s hippo teacher, suggests the frog check his bag, and Elly and Bubba are joyfully reunited. Ho’s cheery, digitally created cartoons will engage youngsters and offer a tour of preschool to the uninitiated to boot. Publishing simultaneously is Wickle Woo Has a Halloween Party, in which an owl host must find the fancy-dressed guests attending his Halloween bash. It’s full of equally satisfying interaction, although some of the costumed critters may be difficult for the youngest toddlers to recognize.

Sturdy, engaging fun. (Board book. 1-3)

Pub Date: Aug. 5, 2014

ISBN: 978-0-7636-7401-4

Page Count: 8

Publisher: Nosy Crow

Review Posted Online: July 28, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015

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SPOOKY POOKIE

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

Categories:
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EEK! HALLOWEEN!

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

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