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BABY ANIMALS

Name: BABY ANIMALS
Author: Scott Barker
ISBN: 978-1-338-64570-5

SCHOLASTIC EARLY LEARNERS

From the Touch and Explore series

illustrated by Scott Barker ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 7, 2020

A simple and satisfying sensory experience.

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This baby-animal primer features embedded touch-and-feel textural elements.

Each page features one cartoon creature on a brightly colored background with the diminutive name of the critter captioned below. One small portion of the animal has one or two fabric elements securely inserted into the thick board pages. There’s a gray “kitten” with a slender, soft tail, a “guinea-pig pup” with a felted body, a “lion cub” with a leathery nose, and a “penguin chick” with a sparkly, gently scratchy belly. Some of the touch-and-feel surfaces are on the scanty side, like the mane on the “donkey foal,” but there is a nice diversity of sensations. The animals are endearing, with oversized googly eyes and larger-than-normal heads in bright colors. On the cover is a puppy fully constructed in fabric, but it doesn’t appear within. Most compositions feature suitable contrast, but the ocher guinea pig against a pink background and gray donkey foal against a green background may be a little difficult for developing eyes to pick out. Babies will enjoy playing with (and chewing on) the red tag that protrudes from the front cover.

A simple and satisfying sensory experience. (Board book. 6 mos.-2)

Pub Date: April 7, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-338-64570-5

Page Count: 14

Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic

Review Posted Online: April 7, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2020

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

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BUTT OR FACE?

by Kari Lavelle ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 2023

A gleeful game for budding naturalists.

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Artfully cropped animal portraits challenge viewers to guess which end they’re seeing.

In what will be a crowd-pleasing and inevitably raucous guessing game, a series of close-up stock photos invite children to call out one of the titular alternatives. A page turn reveals answers and basic facts about each creature backed up by more of the latter in a closing map and table. Some of the posers, like the tail of an okapi or the nose on a proboscis monkey, are easy enough to guess—but the moist nose on a star-nosed mole really does look like an anus, and the false “eyes” on the hind ends of a Cuyaba dwarf frog and a Promethea moth caterpillar will fool many. Better yet, Lavelle saves a kicker for the finale with a glimpse of a small parasitical pearlfish peeking out of a sea cucumber’s rear so that the answer is actually face and butt. “Animal identification can be tricky!” she concludes, noting that many of the features here function as defenses against attack: “In the animal world, sometimes your butt will save your face and your face just might save your butt!” (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A gleeful game for budding naturalists. (author’s note) (Informational picture book. 6-8)

Pub Date: July 11, 2023

ISBN: 9781728271170

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Sourcebooks eXplore

Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

- BOOK REVIEW
ODE TO GRAPEFRUIT
by Kari Lavelle ; illustrated by Bryan Collier

- BOOK REVIEW
WE MOVE THE WORLD
by Kari Lavelle ; illustrated by Nabi H. Ali

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I LIKE THE FARM

From the I Like To Read series

by Shelley Rotner ; photographed by Shelley Rotner ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 15, 2017

Simple, encouraging text, charming photographs, straightforward, unpretentious diversity, and adorable animals—what’s not to...

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This entry-level early reader/picture book pairs children with farm animals.

Using a simple, effective template—a full-page photograph on the recto page and a bordered spot photo above the text on the verso—Rotner delivers an amiable picture book that presents racially and ethnically diverse kids interacting (mostly in the cuddling department) with the adult and baby animals typically found on a farm. Chickens, chicks, cats, kittens, dogs, puppies, pigs, piglets, cows, and calves are all represented. While a couple of double-page spreads show the larger adult animals—pigs and cows—without a child, most of the rest portray a delighted child hugging a compliant critter. The text, simple and repetitive, changes only the name for the animal depicted in the photo on that spread: “I like the cat”; “I like the piglet.” In this way, reading comprehension for new readers is supported in an enjoyable, appealing way, since the photo of the animal reinforces the new word. It’s hard to go wrong combining cute kids with adorable animals, but special kudos must be given for the very natural way Rotner has included diversity—it’s especially gratifying to see diversity normalized and validated early, at the same time that reading comprehension is taught.

Simple, encouraging text, charming photographs, straightforward, unpretentious diversity, and adorable animals—what’s not to like? (Picture book/early reader. 2-6)