Let’s find…a different book.
“Puppy is hiding. Let’s find him!” the text declares on the first page. From there, felt flaps and cutouts in the pages along with clues help readers find the playful Puppy. Felt flaps, the 2.0 version of more common paper flaps, make a more durable reading experience for toddlers. They don’t integrate with illustrations as well as paper flaps, but that can be helpful for younger readers developing fine motor skills. The game of searching for Puppy is a familiar one, easy for toddlers to dive into. Disappointingly, though, the flaps and illustrations aren’t always proportionate, sending the clues a bit off. A cat is improbably hiding behind a single blooming flower, and though it’s in the foreground, it’s still significantly larger than those around it. A grasshopper is the same size as a bird. A couple pages later, there’s something described as hiding “behind the log,” but it’s actually a tree stump. On the next page, two rigid, erect cutouts are somehow possibly Puppy’s floppy ears. For little readers new to language, vocabulary and accurate descriptions matter. The illustrations themselves are cute enough, the pigeon particularly well realized, but there’s nothing extraordinary or of substance. The simultaneously publishing Let’s Find the Kitten handles proportions, cutouts, and descriptions with fewer head-scratchers.
Let’s find…a different book. (Board book. 6 mos.-2)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-68010-629-9
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
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 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
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