cover image There, There

There, There

Taro Miura. Candlewick, $8.99 (22p) ISBN 978-0-7636-8785-4

A roundheaded tyke with peach skin, spiky brown hair, and geometric features (dot eyes and a triangular nose) joins—and then comforts—a group of noisy animals. The first half of the book, originally published in Japan in 2008, highlights the sounds made by a frog, chicken, dog, and cow. After Baby joins in with a “Wah, wah!” the animals start sobbing, too, until the boy calms them down with a “There, there—the magic words!” Solid backgrounds and the large scale of the simplified animal portraits amplify their emotions—kids are all but certain to giggle their way through the parade of tears in the book’s second half. Bum, Bum, about animal butts big and small, pubs simultaneously. Up to age 3. (Feb.)