Animals
illustrated by Dawn Machell
Little Tiger

The very youngest children can enjoy meeting all the creatures in this slightly larger than usual board book. Seven spreads in turn introduce animals from different habitats entitled In the Jungle, Into the wild, Wonderful Woodlands, Farmyard Friends, Watery Worlds, Perfect Pets and In the Mountains. Each animal is clearly labelled, occasional animals have a speech bubble (tiger says, ‘I can run very fast’), and there are flaps to lift and touchy feely features on every spread as well as on the cover.

The final spread shows fourteen of the featured animals and asks, “Can you remember their names?’

In addition to becoming familiar with the animal names, little ones can develop their manipulative skills. Playful, interactive fun learning for tinies.

Josephine
Chloé Alméras
Gecko Press

Josephine the giraffe is an optimist and with her nose in the blue sky and her hooves in the green grass, always makes the most of what she experiences in her daily life. She finds new friends in a ‘peculiar’ tree, plays games with the clouds and makes rings in the water. The choppy waves and rippling bushes are places wherein to lose herself, treetops provide something to nibble when she’s hungry and she’s ‘curious about the world down below’ so sticks her nose into a burrow to watch a family of creatures. Josephine is awed by a tall mountain and enjoys counting small ones. She’s never lonely for long, finds wonder in both autumn and spring and becomes playful on snowy winter days and in the ocean’s bubbles when summer comes. In fact, not a day goes by that isn’t a source of awe and delight.

With stylised ink illustrations, this is mindfulness for toddlers. Sharing the book with a small group may encourage them to think about and talk about the everyday things they love to experience.