This colorful, tactile French import introduces children to numbers and counting.
In both this book and its companion, Mr. Bear’s Little Shapes, Aracil introduces readers to preschool concepts through beautifully designed, touch-friendly elements. Mr. Bear’s Little Shapes is a catalog of basic and more advanced shapes, ranging from simple circles and triangles to stars and semicircles. The items chosen are accessible, and the pages are cleverly tabbed on the edges with die-cut shapes that together serve as a clever kind of index for tiny fingers. Unfortunately, the author mixes both three- and two-dimensional shapes, including spherical items such as balls and the moon for circle and tents and pyramids for triangle, requiring caregivers to back and fill on the details. Additionally, the circle and oval tabs are impossible to tell apart when the book is closed. Mr. Bear’s Little Numbers is more educationally sound and more fun for young readers as well: The numbers are embossed with a pebbly texture, encouraging children to trace their shapes while also counting the quirky collections of items. Unlike many beginning counting books, the pages go beyond the number 10, introducing children to 20, 30, 40, 50, and 100. Although most in the audience will not be able to count to 100, the pictures still give them a sense of the relative quantities in a fun and interesting way. The neon color palette and cartoonlike pictures are incredibly appealing visually—both stylish and fun.
A pleasing, well-designed book readers can return to. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 979-1-03631-355-4
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Twirl/Chronicle
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
Categories: CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS
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Animal parents declare their love for their offspring in alphabetical order.
Each page displays an enormous capital letter, one line of verse with the keyword capitalized, and a loving nonhuman parent gazing adoringly at their baby. “A is for Always. I always love you more. / B is for Butterfly kisses. It’s you that I adore.” While not named or labelled as such, the A is also for an alligator and its hatchling and B is for a butterfly and a butterfly child (not a caterpillar—biology is not the aim of this title) interacting in some way with the said letter. For E there are an elephant and a calf; U features a unicorn and foal; and X, keyed to the last letter of the animal’s name, corresponds to a fox and three pups. The final double-page spread shows all the featured creatures and their babies as the last line declares: “Baby, I love you from A to Z!” The verse is standard fare and appropriately sentimental. The art is cartoony-cute and populated by suitably loving critters on solid backgrounds. Hearts accent each scene, but the theme of the project is never in any doubt.
Perfect for Valentine’s Day, but the syrupy sweetness will cloy after the holiday. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-7282-2095-6
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2021
Categories: CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S ANIMALS
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This simple board book invites little ones to greet baby farm animals (including frog, bunny, and bee) with their corresponding sounds.
The first double-page spread greets readers with a bright yellow smiling sun and the text “Hello, Sun. / Hello, Day. / Wake up, babies. / Time to play!” Each succeeding spread has a distinct, gently patterned background, with very brief text on the verso (“Hello Puppy! / Woof Woof”). Filling up the recto is a vibrant illustration of the baby animal’s face, wide eyed and smiling, outlined in black. The final spread presents the face of a cute baby with chalky brown-gray skin, bright black eyes, and short black hair: “Goo Goo.” Babies and toddlers will enjoy looking at the baby faces, animals and human, and repeating the sounds. A companion book, Goodnight Bear, has a similar pattern of text and illustrations, though the palette is suitably darker. The moon, surprisingly, has its eyes shut, and succeeding spreads depict an owlet, a baby bat, a baby hedgehog, and other familiar nocturnal baby animals, all wide-awake and smiling. The final spread depicts a cute baby with pale skin, blond hair, and closed eyes.
It’s not exactly original, but the execution, with familiar, appealing Cabrera illustrations, is attractive and perfect for the target audience. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Jan. 17, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4998-0430-0
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Little Bee Books
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS
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