I LOVE MY TUTU TOO!

Under the guise of counting from one to 10, exuberant animals express their love for tutus.

A goofy-looking penguin declares its love for the pink tutu around its waist. Soon other animals join in: a bear, in a double-tiered purple tutu; a bug—in a “teeny tiny tutu,” of course; a toucan; a gnu—“who knew?”; two tunas; a ewe; an elephant; and a crocodile. But this is much more than a counting book; it is a rollicking tutu lovefest expressed with plenty of alliteration, rhythm, and, most especially, a clever play on homophones: “ ‘I know a ewe with a new tutu.’ / ‘You do?’ / ‘I do.’ / ‘Woo-hoo!’ / ‘Yodel-lay-hee-EWE!’ ” And that’s not all; there’s even a little sharing thrown in for good measure when the elephant reveals “I wish I had a tutu too,” and the crocodile responds with “I have TWO tutus! I can share my blue tutu!” With 10 creatures now in tutus, “ENOUGH with the tutu talk already. It’s time to… / DANCE!” What fun, and then: “Phew.” Burach’s bright cartoons are whimsical and humorous, the animals’ faces brimming with expression. Large, pink numerals appear on recto in each spread that introduces a new number while on verso they are spelled out in pink capital letters.

Who knew a tutu-clad clan could have so much fun?