Lots of Kisses Read-Along

October 13, 2014
Canadian poet Crozier offers a soothing rhyme, written in the voice of a caring adult speaking to a baby: “If I kiss your eyelids/ If I kiss your toes/ If I kiss the top of your head/ where your wispy hair grows.” Photographs (largely stock images) show close-ups of babies smiling, sticking their toes in their mouths (“If I kiss your littlest toes/ Whoops!—already they’ve been kissed”), and cuddling with parents. The resolution to this series of ifs (“Will I kiss away your tears?”) makes for a surprisingly somber conclusion, since the idea of distress is absent from the preceding pages. Up to age 3.

Babies are kissed by their grown-ups, from head to toe. In the preamble, a variety of mothers and fathers ask what happens if they kiss their babies' eyelids, toes, heads, wrists and fingers. The lilting rhymed text continues: "If I kiss your belly // If I kiss your ears // If I kiss the knobs of your knees // Will I kiss away your tears?" These lines are meted out spread by spread, printed on one page in a bold, black typeface against gently patterned backgrounds, while a full-color photo of a solo baby or a parent (or parents) engaging with their little one appears on the facing page. Almost half of the cute and bubbly images depict families of color. While the ending is a bit abrupt and the order of body parts kissed is not particularly logical, this title is bound to encourage lots of bonding. (Board book. 6-18 mos.) COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

January 1, 2015
Babies are kissed by their grown-ups, from head to toe. In the preamble, a variety of mothers and fathers ask what happens if they kiss their babies' eyelids, toes, heads, wrists and fingers. The lilting rhymed text continues: "If I kiss your belly // If I kiss your ears // If I kiss the knobs of your knees // Will I kiss away your tears?" These lines are meted out spread by spread, printed on one page in a bold, black typeface against gently patterned backgrounds, while a full-color photo of a solo baby or a parent (or parents) engaging with their little one appears on the facing page. Almost half of the cute and bubbly images depict families of color. While the ending is a bit abrupt and the order of body parts kissed is not particularly logical, this title is bound to encourage lots of bonding. (Board book. 6-18 mos.)

COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.