Juniper:

Review by Juniper for Butterfly Kisses (Snuggle-Me Stories)
Rating:
Okay, the plot is not usually very thick in board books for children, but like the first reviewer mentioned, the story line doesn’t really have much to do with kisses or butterflies. The only time the butterfly is needed is at the very end. Meanwhile, we end up just holding it, wondering what to do with it while the “Bees buzz along,”"Birds sing a love song,”"Turtles play peek-a-boo,” and “Owls ask who, who?”

Another thing that kind of bothers me about this story (especially during this phase of having to read everything 14 times a day), is that one of the pages reads, “Chickens let out a cock-a-doodle-do.” Would it have been too difficult to clarify “roosters?” Hens don’t make the sound that goes with “cock-a-doodle-do.” The picture is of a slightly incomplete rooster. It looks like a cross-dressed chicken…half hen, half rooster. It’s missing the tell-tale rooster feathers that make it clearly a rooster. For a child just learning to recognize animals, I think it’d be more helpful to have a bit more detail in the illustrations. For the most part, they are cute enough.

Next, the baby in the book is missing her nose and ears. No big deal, but my daughter is obsessed with this. She points to the baby and says, “Baby” and then points to the gap in the middle of the face and says, “No nose.” For a 14-month-old who knows about 30 words (mostly onomatopoeia), putting two words together to express this point is somewhat impressive. It clearly bothers her. She spends a lot of time turning back to that page and just looking at it.

Anyhow, I don’t normally review books for children, but this one kind of stands out as being a bit not-so-great as most others we come across. It needs more butterflies and more things for the butterfly to kiss. It could have been, “The butterfly kisses the bees; The butterfly kisses the singing birds; The butterfly kisses the turtles; The butterfly kisses the owl…etc. The butterfly kisses me!” or something.

Maybe it’s just the finger puppet. Perhaps the book wouldn’t even have struck me as anything different than usual if it hadn’t come with the puppet?

I don’t think this book will be in our collection for very long.

Reader Views:

Review by Reader Views for Butterfly Kisses (Snuggle-Me Stories)
Rating:
Reviewed by Conner Aguren (age 3) and Mom for Reader Reviews (10/07

“Bees buzz along.

Birds sing a love song.

Turtles play peek-a-boo.

Babies laugh and say goo, goo…”

“Butterfly Kisses” is a rhyming board book that includes a soft butterfly finger puppet to entertain young readers as they go through the story. The pages reveal what the animals do with the words set to a gently rhyme.

“What did you think of the Butterfly?”

“Mom, it can’t fit on my hand!”

“It’s for your finger dear.”

“I’d like to have a real finger butterfly”

“Did you like the story?”

“Yes, but I don’t think it’s very scary.”

“I don’t like any of the pictures. Why are there so many hearts on the butterfly?”

“Mom, stop tickling me with the butterfly!”

Parent’s Comment:

Though the rhyme and pictures were very charming, the title, “Butterfly Kisses,” led me to a different expectation for the book. I thought I would follow a storyline about different kisses or at least about what a butterfly would be doing instead of random animal activities. It should have been titled, “Look and Listen So You Won’t Miss.”

The finger puppet was cute, despite what my son says. Just be careful not to cut the rubber band that holds it in place, like my son did. It is also used to store the finger puppet again with the book.