The first language every child learns to speak and read is body language. In this wonderfully playful picture book, one of the most recognized faces in America (along with her young son, Presley) shows us how to use our faces to say just about anything to our young loved ones! Filled with silly sounding onomatopoeic words, this delightful read-aloud will have adults smiling, frowning, wrinkling their noses, and making other funny faces with every line. Infants and toddlers find out how expressive they can be while adults learn that they are most beautiful in their children's eyes when they simply play, listen and laugh together!
reS-A glitzy, but completely artificial, production that touts Cindy Crawford as its big selling point-she "conceived" the idea for this book and her face is liberally sprinkled throughout its pages. Its purported goal is to help parents "lay the groundwork for-open communication" by interacting with their babies. Surrounded by text like, "How about that NOSE? That bright button nose! Can you CRINKLE it, wrinkle it, hinkely-DINKLE it?" or "A SMILE'S just a frown turned upside down," the communication might be off to a rocky start. The book is filled to the brim with photos of adorable babies, most of whom are in fact baby models. They sit on pretend chairs, sport pretend hats, and even hold pretend ice-cream cones. The intended audience, in spite of the overblown preface and afterword, is hard to discern. The text is crowded and jumpy with too many words on a page for a baby to sit still for. And if it's aimed at toddlers and nursery schoolers, the lack of any real plot will leave them with little more than cute words that rhyme. Parents looking for "wordplay and-varied rhythms and rhymes" should open any of the wonderful Mother Goose collections, filled with wonderful language and rhythm. There are many fine picture books for infants-skip this one.
Jane Marino, Scarsdale Public Library, NY
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Supermodel Cindy Crawford along with her toddler son, Presley, and a host of other bright-eyed babies puts her best face forward in this picture book designed to facilitate parent-child bonding through facial expressions. Following a note to parents from Crawford, a bouncy text that sometimes speaks directly to the audience ("Hello nose, hello toes; hello lips like a small soft rose.... About face! Now it's your turn. Can you pucker up and kiss my nose?") and weaves over and around carefully posed photographs embellished with pastel spot illustrations. A few examples convey the unpolished writing (for instance, "A smile's just a frown turned upside down can you do it, too?" puts the emphasis on the frown rather than the upbeat smile), but the greeting-card message nonetheless prevails. Throughout, boldly colored backgrounds and a hand-lettered-style typeface that emphasizes key words in bold capital letters, give the action here an appropriately playful look and feel. New parents, especially those who may lack confidence in their read-aloud, play-along skills, will find this title especially inviting. All ages. (Nov.)benefit Reading Is Fundamental.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
