Natasha Durley

Technically this is a board book, but it's the size of a picture book and the content is, in my opinion, more geared towards preschool readers, so I'll be shelving it in my picture books.

There is no author listed; the text is copyright by the publisher. It opens with an explanation of how animals are grouped together in different ways and in this book they are organized by the features that they share, from horns to noses.

Each spread, against a distinct colored background, has an array of brightly colored animals and invites readers to compare their features. Small type identifies each animal and asks readers to find an additional feature. So the first spread is "enormous eyes" and readers are asked to find an animal with a big nose. Turn the page and the feature is noses. This continues through ears, tails, special defenses, horns, webbed feet, long necks, tongues, fur, and beaks. The "dreaded defenses" spread doesn't seem to fit in with the other features, but makes more sense if you look at the original UK edition and see that it was originally labeled "Awesome armour."

The binding is not very strong, especially for the thin cardboard pages, which is another reason for putting it in the picture book section instead of the board books.

Verdict: The US edition of this is available only direct from the publisher, so I would say it's more of a gift purchase or an additional, fun book to add, especially if you have a lot of kids who seek and find animal titles.

ISBN: 9781536210439; US edition published March 2020 by Big Picture Press/Candlewick; Review copy provided by publisher; Donated to the library… (plus d'informations)