Publisher's Weekly Review
For children who can't wait until adulthood to grow mustaches and beards worthy of lumberjacks and pirates, this board book might be the next best thing. Opening each spread wide reveals the lower half of six cartoon faces with colorful facial hair, from a cowboy's "yellow as straw" mustache" to Santa's snowy beard. Readers can try each of them on for size by holding the book up to their own faces. The meter of Lemke's rhymes isn't always precise ("This gray beard/ is salty all day./ Salute and say,/ `Anchors aweigh!'?"), but most readers will be too caught up in the silly fun to care. Simultaneously available: Book-O-Hats, Book-O-Masks, and Book-O-Teeth. Ages 1-6. (Feb.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
This "wearable book" presents a series of different beards for kids to try on by holding the pages up just under their noses. What do a lumberjack, a pirate, a cowboy, a sailor, Santa Claus and a police officer all have in common? Beards! And kids can try them all on with this novelty offering. In addition to a brief bit of verse, each double-page spread features a bearded face from the nose down so that when kids, or adults, hold the book up to their faces, they are magically and hilariously transformed. The skin tone, mustache and beard shape and color, mouth and teeth are different for each face, ranging from a pale-skinned, open-mouthed lumberjack with a curly red beard to a lantern-jawed African-American police officer with a mustache and stern expression. Although the verses seem perfunctory and occasionally awkward ("This black beard / is braided and large. / Squint one eye and / let out an ARRRG!' "), they won't get in the way of the interactive fun sparked by the vibrant and funny illustrations. Supplies needed to accompany this novelty offering: a mirror and some friends. Laughs and much silliness sure to follow. (Board book. 3-6) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Here's a board book that is all about laughs. The sturdy, oversize pages open to reveal, masklike, the bottom half of a variety of jaunty, cartoonish bearded faces. The Lumberjack hovers over a plaid shirt and suspenders. A stern set of lips and a lantern jaw appear beneath an official-looking crumb-catcher on the Police Officer. And the Santa Claus . . . well, you can guess. A notch on one corner of the book leaves the perfect nose-sized gap when open, and kiddos (and likely adults) won't be able to resist holding the book up to their own chins for facial-hair experiments. Giggle-fueling fun for the bearded and beard-challenged alike.--Hunter, Sarah Copyright 2014 Booklist