This parade of animal babies is irresistably adorable. ( )

Not only is this book absolutely adorable, it's also well-written and informative. Zenz goes through all sorts of baby animal names, but the rhyme scheme is rock solid throughout and the patterns are varied enough that the text doesn't even come close to be being boring (which would have been really easy to do with what's basically a list). Now let's talk illustrations - all these baby animals are just too cute for words with the variety and cleverness of the text keeping them from tipping over into overly precious territory. My favorite spread includes the cria, joey, hatchlings and leveret. The hatchlings and leveret race (just like the tortoise and the hare!) and make additional appearances on the end papers in homage to the classic fable. Zenz's colored pencils keep things soft with very minimal backgrounds and settings really allowing the animals to shine. This also makes it appropriate for the very young, while the informative aspect raises the interest level up through the primary grades - giving this a wide audience agewise. I love the key to what kinds of animals are pictured that Zenz includes at the back since I wasn't immediately able to recognize them all and I'm a sucker for kids books that I learn from.

This worked better for baby storytime than I thought it might - particularly with the addition of some animal noises and actions (bounce like a joey, flap like a bird - what does a kitty say?). With the rhyme scheme being so spot on though, I tried not to break it up too much. Would definitely use it again.

Used for Animal Babies baby storytime June 2012. ( )