You're My Boo

Toddler-PreS—From morning to night, a mother fox loves her children, especially her oldest, her "Boo." She gives him affectionate nicknames throughout the day as the kit and his younger sister eat, play, and squabble. Whether he's nice or mean, happy or sad, Mom is always there to hug and snuggle her Boo. The rhyming text, printed in a large font and nicely laid out for reading aloud to children, bounces along merrily. Adults may find the cutesy text (pretty much everything rhymes with "boo") endearing, but kids may find some sections confusing, for instance, the long, hyphenated nickname "my banging-like-a-drum-a-boo." The singsong text and spreads are interrupted by quartets of sequential actions punctuated with single-syllable words, "Yes! No! Nice! Mean!" These sequences show the siblings quarreling, after which their mother always reassures them that she loves them. Sometimes it seems as though the resolutions are glossed over. Thankfully, the illustrations, rendered in pencil and colored with hand-painted collage pieces and digital painting, provide more of a story arc, as well as family interactions for readers to explore and discuss.