toddlers

Review: Hide & Seek by Il Sung Na

| Tasha

hide and seek

Hide & Seek by Il Sung Na

The author of several lovely picture books returns with another beautiful book.  This time readers are part of a game of hide and seek with jungle animals.  Elephant offers to seek while the others hide.  There is a slow count from one to ten as the animals search for places to hide.  Giraffe opts for a tree to hide behind.  Gorilla stands atop Tortoise’s shell like a statue.  Elephant searches for everyone and one-by-one he finds them all, except for Chameleon.  All of the animals finally have to give up and Chameleon reveals himself.  Young readers can search for chameleon throughout the bright illustrations, participating in the game themselves.

The text here is fairly basic, allowing the game to create the pacing and story.  The counting from one to ten creates an effective counting book that is nicely married to a hide and seek game that will challenge young children. 

It is really the art that is special here, glowing with light from within and filled with bright colors.  None of the animals are colored as expected.  The elephant has vibrant ears in red with hearts.  The giraffe is a fiery yellow with red.  Tortoise is a rainbow of pattern and color.  The trees themselves are topped with colorful clouds of leaves.  It all creates a very dynamic and fanciful world.

Colorful counting and a game to play make this a great pick for lap sharing with your favorite toddler or preschooler.  Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from copy received from Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers.

Review: It’s a Tiger by David LaRochelle

| Tasha

its a tiger

It’s a Tiger by David LaRochelle, illustrated by Jeremy Tankard

The story starts in the jungle filled with vines and trees.  You can look at the monkeys swinging around, but wait!  That’s not a monkey.  It looks like… a tiger! Run!  Whew.  Now we are safe inside a cave.  You’ll have to watch for bats and duck your head.  Wait, some of those shadows look like… a tiger!  Run!  The escapade continues through the jungle with snakes, but then you head on a boat to a deserted island.  Sure you are safe there.  Right?  Roar!

This fast-paced race through the jungle is exactly what squirmy toddlers need at the end of a story time.  The book has a great sense of timing and plenty of action.  The repetition of the tiger appearing over and over again, will have children merrily joining in and shouting along.  This is not a quiet book for contemplative reading, but instead a jolly book that will have children making plenty of noise. 

Tankard’s art is a huge part of the appeal here.  The thick-lined, orange ferocity of the tiger plays against the finer lines and subtler colors of the background.  The little boy who joins you in your trek through the jungle is also drawn in the thicker lines and pops on the page.  There is a feeling of motion and action throughout the book that brings the story even more fully to life.

A great pick for toddler story time, this is one book to have in your pile for when kids get restless.  Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from copy received from Chronicle Books.

Review: Demolition by Sally Sutton

| Tasha

demolition

Demolition by Sally Sutton, illustrated by Brian Lovelock

There has been a movement recently to create some very original and fresh construction and truck books.  Before that, it was a bit of a desert of naming big trucks, telling how they work, and leaving it at that.  This book is one of the best of those new, fresh books about construction vehicles.  In rhyming lines, it tells the story of the demolition of a building.  It begins with the people getting ready, moves to the wrecking ball, then the excavator and its tearing jaws.  There are stone crushers and wood shredders.  Trucks are loaded and clear the site, then they start to build something.  Something with slides, monkey bars, and plenty of fun.

The rhyme and rhythm of this picture book really make it work.  It has a bouncy rhythm that makes the book ideal for toddlers.  The rhyming lines finish on each set of pages with noisy words that bring the work site to life.  Add to that the appeal of knocking something down and then building something new, and you have brought a toddler dream to life.  The illustrations have a great texture to them that evokes the dust and dirt of demolition.  They avoid being too cartoon-like and instead use different vistas on the project to allow young readers to see more than they could of in real life.

One of the most appealing construction or destruction books around, this belongs in every library collection.  It will also be appreciated by librarians and teachers who have long been looking for construction books worth sharing in a story time setting.  Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: Beach Feet by Kiyomi Konagaya

| Tasha

beach feet

Beach Feet by Kiyomi Konagaya, illustrated by Masamitsu Saito

Released June 12, 2012.

This picture book is a trip to the beach along with a very exuberant little boy.  There are salty breezes, hot sand, cool water, and plenty of sun.  The little boy races to get to the water, surprised by the heat captured in the hot sand.  That quickly turns to relief upon reaching the cool, wet sand.  Then the waves come in, cold and big, tickling around toes as the water recedes again.  It leaves behind a revealed shell, something for the boy’s toes to find.  Then there are more waves, floating in the ocean, and even more sun. 

Konagaya’s very short text is a delight.  The translation from the Japanese is successful, keeping the quiet yet excited mood of exploring a beach.  It offers just enough context to share the pleasures of the ocean without getting in the way at all, making it ideal for very young listeners.

The illustrations by Saito are rich and deep.  They move from playful exuberance to quieter moments.  The bright yellow of the sunshine, the cool grey of wet sand, the blue of the waves.  This art captures the beach perfectly.  It has a wonderful fluidity to it, captured most effectively in the skin of the child that flows from oranges and pinks. 

A successful look at a day at the beach that is perfect to share with toddlers, this book should come along with a shovel and pail.  Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from copy received from Enchanted Lion Books.

Gideon by Olivier Dunrea

| Tasha

gideon gideon and otto

Gideon by Olivier Dunrea

Gideon & Otto by Olivier Dunrea

Gideon is the newest fowl in Dunrea’s farmland.  He is a gosling who loves to play, hates to nap, and has a favorite toy, an octopus named Otto.  In the book bearing just his name, Gideon is hard at play and refusing to listen to his mother call him for his nap.  He just keeps racing on to the next thing to play with.  Readers who are paying close attention will notice that he starts slowing down towards the end of the book, just before he falls asleep all on his own.  In Gideon & Otto, Gideon is once again hard at play on land and in the water.  Otto participates happily, listening when books are read aloud, hiding in the leaves, and even bobbing in the water.  When Gideon sets Otto aside to play more, he instructs Otto to stay there.  But in the midst of playing, Otto gets knocked down and then disappears.  Gideon is about to give up when Otto appears again.  Filled with appeal, these books are jolly additions to Dunrea’s menagerie.

Toddlers and their parents will immediately recognize moments out of their own days here.  From being too busy to nap to losing a beloved toy, these moments are what create the tapestry of young lives.  Told with a wonderful humor, zinging with speed and action, these books beg to be shared.  In fact, when I was curled up to read them to myself, my 10-year-old appeared and insisted that he be read them aloud.  There is such charm to just the covers and even more inside the pages.  These are small books that are very rich.

Perfect for busy toddlers who need some time to slow down a bit.  Appropriate for ages 2-4, or for 10-year-olds who need a cuddle too.

Reviewed from library copies.

Review: Zoo Girl by Rebecca Elliott

| Tasha

zoo girl

Zoo Girl by Rebecca Elliott (Link to InfoSoup)

Told in just a few words per page, this book tells the story of a little girl who doesn’t have a family.  At the orphanage she is lonely and has no friends.  Then the children visit the zoo and suddenly the little girl feels at home.  She is left behind at the zoo and the animals discover her.  They befriend her and she lives with them for awhile until the zookeepers discover her curled up with the tigers.  The little girl does not want to go, and the book ends with a happy ending where the little girl is adopted by the zookeeper couple.  The story is a simple one, told in only a few words, but the sense of belonging and being wanted remains a powerful message.

Elliott’s story is really told in the illustrations rather than the words.  Her art is a rich mix of texture, patterns, drawing and photographs.  The rather simply drawn characters and animals live in a world made dazzling.  Even the air itself seems to have its own feeling and shape.  The elephant has wonderful wrinkles, the tiger has plush fur, and the penguin’s feathers are swirled. 

Also, in the orphanage, the mood is not grim.  It is specifically this little girl who does not have friends and feels alone.  The other children are merry and playing with one another.  That changes the message quite a bit too.

Perfect for toddlers because of its brevity, this book is a very friendly way to talk about adoption.  Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: Up, Tall and High by Ethan Long

| Tasha

up tall and high

Up, Tall and High by Ethan Long

A group of birds talk about who is tall, who is high in the air, and who is up in a tree in a series of very short chapters.  Birds compare their height by insisting that they are the tall one.  The ending of that story comes with a short bird who is definitely not small.  The high in the air story is about a bird who can fly and a penguin who can’t, but a solution is found.  Up in a tree is a story about a little bird who is up in a tree and a larger bird who decides to join him there.  Each of the stories is short, clever and has a lot of humor.

The book is endearingly simple with bold lines and bright colors.  There are only a few words per page and many pages have no words at all.  Definitely designed with toddlers in mind, these three short stories are filled with a cheerful attitude.

Ideal for small children, these are stories that have the color, friendliness and humor to be a hit.  Appropriate for ages 1-3.

Reviewed from copy received from Penguin Group.

Review: Hugs from Pearl by Paul Schmid

| Tasha

hugs from pearl

Hugs from Pearl by Paul Schmid

Pearl is a very friendly little porcupine, and one of her favorite things to do is give everyone hugs.  But porcupines are prickly and Pearl’s hugs hurt!  At first Pearl tried keeping Band-Aids handy after hugs, but she didn’t like to make her friends say “Ouch!”  Then she tried pin cushions on her quills, but that took way too long and she couldn’t reach them all.  Pearl tried a long hot bath, but her quills refused to soften.   Pearl decided that she just couldn’t give hugs any more.  But then she got inspiration on her way home from school when she saw some bees buzzing happily among the thorny roses.  Could Pearl have figured out the trick to pain-free hugs from a porcupine?

Schmid has created a story that is simply told and can be read solely as a book about a little porcupine, but it is also a story that could be used for discussions about what each of us has that is prickly and hurts other people and how we can solve it.  The story has a touch of heartache and a real sweetness to it that never becomes sickly sweet or overbearing, instead it has a great freshness to it.

The art is equally fresh with its charming mix of pale greens and pinks.  Pearl herself glows with her pale pink blush, popping on each page compared to the other animals.  Her facial expressions manage to convey deep emotions even though they are just a few lines on the page.  The simplicity in both the text and the illustrations make the book very enticing.

This book is a shining example that adorable, sweet books can also be stirring and warm.  Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: No Two Alike by Keith Baker

| Tasha

no two alike

No Two Alike by Keith Baker

Starting with the fact that no two snowflakes are alike, though they almost are, this book merrily explores the snowy woods.   Things are found in pairs, and pointed out to be different from one another.  No two nests are the same, no two tracks in the snow.  Branches and leaves are all different from one another.  Throughout nature it’s the same.  Even the two very similar little red birds who accompany the reader on the trip through the snow are shown in the end to be different from one another, “Almost, almost… but not quite.”

Just right for toddlers, this book looks at things that may seem the same but upon closer inspection are actually different.  Baker’s writing is simple and effortless, gliding through the story with just enough support to carry the book.  The rhythm and structure of the book also help make it a great read aloud.

His illustrations are equally light and cheery.  The two red birds are merry companions for young readers as they explore the snowy woods together.  Readers can stop and take the time to see the differences between things for themselves. 

This book could be used in several ways.  It could be used to explore differences in objects or for walks in nature to explore how each object is different.  It can also be used as a gentle way to enter conversations about how we as people are all different too in many ways. 

This sweet, jolly book makes is worth a warm snuggle on a wintry day and a walk in the winter weather to look up close at nature.    Appropriate for ages 1-3.

Reviewed from library copy.