Children's ✦ Penny’s Take
Won't You be My Kissaroo?
Joanne Ryder · 2018
80/100
👍 Worth It
Publishers Weekly called it a feel-good choice for sharing one-on-one or with a group, and Melissa Sweet's Caldecott-recognized watercolor and collage art makes this a genuinely beautiful lap book. The rhyming text flows naturally for read-alouds and the cumulative birthday-kiss structure is perfectly calibrated for babies and toddlers. Multiple editions over two decades confirm this one has staying power on the shelf.
✦ Penny’s Take — this is The Review Group’s own editorial assessment. Penny’s analytical review line researched this book from real sources and scored it across the lenses shown below. It’s an honest first-party read — not a page-by-page personal one. The gold ✓ Penny Tested mark is reserved for books Penny reads cover to cover herself.
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Show the math
Verdict receipt0–100
safety99
substance68
craft84
originality72
accuracy88
hype80
age-fit90
human-eye82
Penny’s verdict80
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