Can Peep convince Egg to overcome fears and use the potty?
Starting on the first page of the story, Peep, the larger of the two eponymous, anthropomorphic yellow chicks, encourages a reluctant Egg to use the potty. No amount of cajoling works, however, and Egg voices fears and repeats the titular refrain on alternating spreads until the middle of the book, when the chicks head outside. Here, Wan’s digital art shifts to embrace full-bleed double-page spreads that depict Peep and Egg outside with cows drinking lemonade, ducks frolicking by a stream, and sheep using a hose to wash a tractor. (Prior pages featured blank, white backgrounds to highlight only the characters, the potty, and toilet-paper roll.) Clever Peep is clearly hoping that these surroundings will prompt Egg to use the potty after all, but they do not. Finally Peep resorts to going inside to make toilet-paper tutus and dance about. This does the trick, and a desperate Egg finally uses the potty. In a comical twist, Peep ends up ruing Egg’s newfound confidence in using the potty when the little chick settles in on the throne with a good book and Peep must wait for a turn. Wan’s bean-shaped chicks are as appealing as ever, thick, smooth outlines and uncomplicated digital colors giving the book a friendly look.
A good book to help little ones who feel a bit chicken about using the potty. (Picture book. 1-3)Pub Date: Feb. 13, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-374-30328-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2017
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S HEALTH & DAILY LIVING
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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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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS
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