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Original Essays | November 5, 2009

John Buntin: IMG Notes from the (Bibliographic) Underground



For more than 60 years, Los Angeles's origins, its underbelly, and (yes) its blondes have fueled the imagination of writers and directors from... Continue »
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If Animals Kissed Good Night (Melanie Kroupa Books)

by Ann Whitford Paul

If Animals Kissed Good Night (Melanie Kroupa Books) Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

If animals kissed

like we kiss good night,

Giraffe and his calf

would stretch their necks high

and kiss just beneath

the top of the sky.

In a cozy bedtime chat with her mom, a young girl wonders how animal families might say good night. Would Wolf and his pup “kiss and then HOWL”? Would Bear and her cub “kiss and then GROWL”? But what about Sloth and her baby? They move soooo slooowwwww . . . they’re sure to be kissing from early evening until long after everyone else is fast asleep!

With its whimsical art and playful rhymed verse, this affectionate picture book is bound to become a bedtime favorite.

Review:

"There are probably not enough synonyms for 'cute' to cover this survey of hypothetical smooches between animal parents and offspring — not that there's anything wrong with that. Paul (Maana, Iguana) notes that the book was inspired by a game she played with her youngest son, and her text exudes the affectionate silliness of a beloved bedtime ritual, complete with nonsense sounds (a parrot and chick's beak-to-beak buss is 'klick-a-klack, klick-a-klack, klick-a-klack, kleek'). Walker (previously paired with Paul for Little Monkey Says Good Night) gets great emotional mileage from his rounded, stuffed toy — like shapes, velvety colors, and tiny dot eyes; the characters radiate unconditional love. There's a lot to go 'Ahhhh' over (the lumpy posteriors of Papa Rhino and his calf are particularly endearing), but the most winning of the vignettes also serves as the book's running joke: the slo-mo kiss between a mama sloth and her cub. As they hang upside-down from a tree, in absolutely no hurry to part, their embrace is like the Energizer Bunny — it keeps going and going and going. Ages 3-6." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

About the Author

ANN WHITFORD PAUL and DAVID WALKER collaborated on Little Monkey Says Good Night, a Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year, which Kirkus Reviews praised as “a perfect good-night read.” Ms. Paul lives in Los Angeles, California. Mr. Walker lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Product Details

ISBN:
9780374380519
Author:
Paul, Ann Whitford
Publisher:
Farrar Straus Giroux
Illustrator:
Walker, David
Subject:
Animals
Subject:
Kissing
Subject:
Humorous Stories
Subject:
Bedtime & Dreams
Subject:
Animals - General
Subject:
Stories in rhyme
Subject:
Parent and child
Series:
Melanie Kroupa Books
Publication Date:
April 2008
Binding:
Hardcover
Language:
English
Illustrations:
YES
Pages:
32
Dimensions:
9.61x9.80x.35 in. .79 lbs.
Age Level:
03-06

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