WINGS

On the cover a smiling ladybug beckons readers to “touch and feel.” Pushing up a cardboard tab at the bottom of the cover causes the bug’s carapace to bifurcate and “flap” in spectacular fashion. Inside, however, readers will find a fairly ordinary touch-and-feel book that is distinguished only by its distressing inaccuracy. Following a question-and-answer format, the text informs readers that bumblebees have “[s]parkly silver wings!”, ducklings have “[f]uzzy orange wings!”, ladybugs have “[s]hiny red wings!”, hummingbirds have “[g]listening green wings!” and butterflies have “[s]himmery pink wings!” While the pictures present all those attributes in fuzz, foil or sparkles to touch, with the exception of some hummingbirds, they don’t describe scientific reality. Given that one vital task of a board book is to help babies discover their world, this one fails miserably. Cloying, fatuous and wrong. (Board book. 1-2)