Who’s Who in the Woods?
Eryl Norris and Andy Mansfield
Templar Publishing
It’s nighttime in the woods: everywhere eyes peep out from the inky darkness. Eyes belonging to all manner of creatures; but which is the one causing all the unease?
Pop-ups on every spread but the first, leap out from the pages to reveal the animal with a frightening stare, the one with a fearsome roar and more

in this exciting and engaging little book, written in rhyme for which the artist has used a limited palette to great effect. I suggest it’s best saved for home use as some of the pop-outs are quite fragile and might not stand up to the repeated readings this is bound to have.

A Tower of Giraffes – Animal Bunches
Anna Wright
Words & Pictures
Subtitled ‘Animal Bunches’ this book is essentially a mixed media visual presentation of just that, with each of the sixteen animals represented under the heading of its collective noun. Thus we have the gloriously messy “A Drove of Pigs”,

a wonderfully woolly Flock of Sheep,

the florally coated …

the oh-so-showy Ostentation of Peacocks and many others all portrayed in their full glory. There is a delightful quirkiness about the whole thing and the range of expressions on the animals’ faces in every group is splendid.
Alongside each animal portrait is a paragraph giving some information about the habits and characteristics. Thus we learn for instance that ‘Flamingos are highly sociable, living in groups of up to one thousand … These fancy feathered friends also work together to make theatrical displays … marching in time to impress other birds.’
This book is likely to appeal as much to those interested in design as nature and animals. It is certainly one for the school library or family bookshelf.

Bear Counts
Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman
Simon and Schuster pbk
A cumulative counting book whose rhyming text takes listeners through a sequence of encounters along with friends Mouse and Bear from their shared breakfast in the morning sun. Bear is the leader showing Mouse one sun, one dragonfly, one robin on her nest and one mouse disappointedly clutching just one berry. Then along comes Hare clutching two fruits and …

so on until there’s a whole host of friends splashing and floating in the pond counting …

Gorgeous double page spreads of the various stopping points alternate with the counting pages where the focus is on the individual items seen on the previous friend-encounter spread.

Take a Square
Britta Teckentrup
Words and Pictures
This is one of a new series for the very young that looks at concepts in a fresh, imaginative way at the heart of which is clever design and uncluttered images. Herein, we trail a small dog as he involves readers in a follow-my-leader game taking them through the pages on a playful journey that encompasses a toy truck, the demolition of a block building, a cat, a bone, a toy robot, children playing,

a visit to the park and finally, a bus ride home and bed.

But the story is not quite over as closer study reveals …
As the journey progresses, the line of objects accumulates down the left-hand side of each double spread forming a kind of visual list of the story ingredients. Totally involving and lots of fun.

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