Bye-Bye Binky [Big Kid Power]
by Maria van Lieshout; 
illus. by the author
Preschool    Chronicle    24 pp.
3/16    978-1-4521-3536-6    9.99

I Use the Potty [Big Kid Power]
by Maria van Lieshout; 
illus. by the author
Preschool    Chronicle    24 pp.
3/16    978-1-4521-3535-9    $9.99

In the Leslie Patricelli preschool-book mold (Potty, rev. 1/11, and many others), these volumes discuss getting-bigger milestones — learning to use the potty, giving up the pacifier — in a way that little kids can grasp. Direct-address text describes each protagonist’s journey from diaper- or binky-user to “BIG KID!” Binky provides alternatives (“Big kids ask for HUGS. When I am tired, I cuddle with my lovey”) and suggestions for paying it forward (“I’ll give it to a little baby. When the baby cries, he can use my binky”), while Potty offers incentives (“Big kids wear UNDERWEAR!”) and step-by-step reminders (“When I have to go…I go into the bathroom, pull down my undies, and sit on the potty. Sometimes it takes a while”). Simple digital illustrations in a limited palette — bright-yellow and gray-blue in Potty, neon-orange and warm-brown in Binky — plus thick black lines and white outlines keep the focus squarely on each toddler narrator and his or her small-scale surroundings. The books’ petite, square shapes and sturdy bindings are well conceived for little hands.

From the March/April 2016 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.