Kangaroo Kisses

It’s time for… bed!

Not yet!

Elephant must floss,

to make his teeth gloss!

Then I’ll brush furry bear.

Please brush your own hair!

Follow one mischievous child as she delays getting ready for bed, and has some amazing wildlife encounters along the way!

"A beautifully written children's books with vivid, bright, colorful illustrations. I would recommend Kangaroo Kisses to any parent who enjoys reading to their kids at night and who has a bedtime routine that they like to instill with their children."

"This colourful beautifully illustrated picture book tells the story of an imaginative little girl who is ‘Not yet!’ ready for bed! The story has a good pace as the little girl has a series of adventures. Rhyming couplets give this narrative a sparkly quality with interesting words such as ‘snuggle’, ‘nuzzle’, ‘squeeze’ and ‘tickle’ all standing out in a larger, bold font. This book has many talking points."

"An adorable new picture book written by Nandana Dev Sen and illustrated by Pippa Curnick. Told in a familiar whimsical, rhyming style, Kangaroo Kisses is a short and fun tale perfect for bedtime.  Curnick brings colorful and friendly animals to life on the page, and the illustrations are beautiful. I highly recommend this one! Super cute, and definitely and author/illustrator duo to watch."

"The illustrations are colorful and adorable, while the actual story expertly combines reality with fantasy. Quill says: A true bedtime story, this is one that should become a staple for all parents and children to enjoy."

"A very sweet bedtime story that sparks the imagination and delights both parents and children alike. This would be a great book to add into your night time line up."

"This is a very sweet book. Even though it is perfect for very young children (preschool or Kindergarten), my second graders loved it! The illustrations by Pippa Curnick are very kid-friendly and striking. I can’t wait to read it to my grandsons!"

"Smiles and wild creatures abound in this playful mother-child bedtime routine.Each of mom's friendly suggestions to get a move on is met with a 'NOT YET!' and a delaying protest: 'I'm learning to fly, / with geese in the sky!' and 'If I tickle giraffe, / She'll giggle and laugh!' and 'Monkey needs a squeeze… / she sleeps in those trees!' Sen takes the drama out of the nightly ritual by making it more a game than a contest of wills. So does Curnick, with smiles all round on human and animal faces alike. The brown skins of the bright-eyed parent and child suggest South Asian heritage, and the bedroom, bath, and clothing in the domestic scenes that alternate with imagined outdoor ones in the painted illustrations are Western in style and appearance. Readers can track the child's reluctant bedtime progress in the illustrations, as gradually red overalls are shed in favor of blue-striped pajamas and bunny slippers in both real-life and imagined scenes. One last try—'I will kiss kangaroo!'— gets a firm parental veto with 'NO, now I'll kiss you!' and a final tuck-in: 'And I love you too! / Night-night!'/. A warm and spirited invitation to dreamland.' (Picture book. 4-6)

"Reading aloud well, the rhymes jump off the page as listeners join in and enjoy the illustrations.  The illustrations match this bedtime scenario perfectly and further reads will reveal the skills of Curnick, winner of the Seven Stories Illustration Competition in 2012."

"The scenario is familiar to most parents and grandparents and this will make a great bedtime read, as well as being a good choice to read to small groups at a story time."

"A charming bedtime story in verse that's easy to read and easy to share, with lots of lively and colourful animal illustrations on every page."

"Children and parents alike may well recognise the scenario of this delightful bedtime story, in which a mother nudges her daughter to get ready for bed, while the little girl protests that she can’t, ‘Not yet!’, at every stage of the process….a great readaloud! And the illustrations are a joy too.…one of those book that it is easy to take for granted because it is so well crafted that it requires no particular effort to make it into a great shared readaloud experience. Taking Kangaroo Kisses as an example, we can certainly look forward to some wonderful books that encompass diversity and promote empathy – and that children will want to have read to them again and again. "

"A lovely bedtime picture book…Lively rhyming text and colourful illustrations make this a great book for sharing."

"Perfect bedtime reading."

"The blend of fantasy and reality works well."

"It's full of fun  and captures perfectly a child's reluctance to stop having fun and simply go to sleep."

"Beautifully produced... It is a book of adventures for bedtime as the toys become real wild animals.

Nandana Dev Sen is an award-winning actor, writer, and child-rights activist. After studying literature at Harvard and filmmaking at USC, she worked as a book editor, a screenwriter, a short film maker, a poetry translator, and as Princess Jasmine in Disneyland. Nandana grew up in India, England, and America, and has acted in over 20 feature films from all three continents (and in multiple languages). As an ambassador and advocate, Nandana works closely with children (and grown-ups) at Operation Smile, RAHI (India's first organization for survivors of child sexual abuse), and UNICEF, to promote child protection and to fight against child abuse. Nandana frequently writes for newspapers and journals, has translated her mother Nabaneeta Dev Sen's book of poems Make Up Your Mind, and is the author of the children's book Mambi and the Forest Fire. Kangaroo Kisses is her debut children's book in the U.K. Nandana lives in New York, Kolkata, and London, and has been quoted to say that she loves to "eat, bike, rhyme, dance, and argue."

Pippa Curnick was winner of the Seven Stories Illustration Competition in 2012. She has worked as a designer for Alison Green Books and is now a freelance designer and illustrator. She enjoys using hand drawn textures and typography and her work is greatly inspired by nature. Pippa lives in Measham, Derbyshire.

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