ANIMALS

This tactile board book presents animals, glimpses of their habitats, and associated vocabulary.

In Alexander’s eye-catching book, a series of familiar animals is presented, each in a colorful two-page layout. Each animal is a separate die-cut figure glued into a larger, shaped cutout presented on recto; on verso are its name—formed from die-cut letters that will nestle in the cutout opposite—along with a set of descriptive words, the only text. Nouns are set in boldface, while adjectives are plain text, and participles are italicized. Some flaws niggle. One adjective—“slimy”—sneaks into the frog’s participles. The nouns are mostly visible in the accompanying illustration, but not the cats’ claws. Most spreads also include the word for the various animals’ offspring, with the exception of the bees (“young bee” is presented as a smiling, small foraging adult rather than “larva”—definitely cuter but inaccurate). These oversights are a letdown. The adjectives and participles, however, are wonderfully descriptive, and many could be new for little ones, like “gamboling” cows, “velvety” moles, and “wallowing” pigs. The illustrations themselves are very spare, a startling contrast to the highly specific and detailed text. The simultaneously publishing Food follows the same format, but the illustrations are more unexpected and engaging, like finding the raised letters “y-u-m” in a bowl of alphabet noodles.

The best part of this one is also the most inconsistent: the rich and challenging vocabulary.