The Horn Book Guide

PRESCHOOL

Symes, Sally

Yawn

24 pp. | Candlewick | December, 2011 | Trade ISBN 978-0-7636-5725-3 $7.99

(2) PS Illustrated by Nick Sharratt. The first spread of this inviting board book shows rosy-cheeked baby Sean mid-yawn. Yawns are contagious: Sean transfers his to “a scruffy, fluffy…cat,” who passes hers along to “a cheeping, chirping…bird,” and so on. In each instance, a large die-cut offers a peek inside the character’s gaping maw. Sharratt’s compositions are effectively spare, and Symes’s jauntily rhymed text is pleasingly repetitive.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2012