Straightforward and accessible, this sturdy board book and its companions are aesthetically pleasing and designed for...
Simple sentences and charming photos of puppies at play make this a sure toddler’s delight.
This book, together with its simultaneously published companion volumes, Bunnies Hop, Fish Swim, and Kittens Pounce, will engage young readers with a combination of kinetic animal photography, repeated sound effects, and short sentences introducing concepts of play and locomotion. This volume and the one on kittens particularly capitalize on the similar interests their subjects share with toddlers, namely a love of play and motion. One plaintive-eyed pup stares out wistfully, wondering, “Who will play with me?” and then, on the next page, announces, “Here is my friend. Wag, wag!” as two terrier puppies wrestle playfully in a field. Kittens play with balls and yarn, chase bubbles, and satisfy their ceaseless curiosity exploring empty boxes. They also stretch and snuggle. The volume on fish introduces some directional vocabulary (“Swim up. Swim down. Swim all around”) and does a creditable job of making the life of a fish seem exciting. The bunnies are adorable; they “hop,” “sniff,” and “munch,” among other things. Each type of animal appears in solo action and with friends. The uncomplicated concepts and colorful pictures mean that young readers can enjoy these books both with and without a caregiver to read them aloud.
Straightforward and accessible, this sturdy board book and its companions are aesthetically pleasing and designed for repeatability. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-68152-196-1
Page Count: 14
Publisher: Amicus Ink
Review Posted Online: Nov. 13, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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