Aaron Zenz

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 show more 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. show less

Too silly for words, but hard to dislike this story of a hiccuping hippo and his effect on the other animals. Impossible rhymes--but when you do it consistently, it somehow succeeds. I suspect the author is good at reading this one aloud.

I gave this book a 5/5 stars because it teaches young children how to face their fears and the outcome can be positive. This story is about a little griffin who has a fear of flying but eventually becomes brave enough to learn. I also really appreciate how the author highlighted words that are being repeated and important to the text. For example, the words "up" and "down" are highlighted because Little Iffy prefers to be down rather than up. This would be a great story for ELL students show more because the action words can be shown while reading. It would also be a wonderful read for younger children because of how Little Iffy's friends are helping him learn to fly; students can learn how to help their peers. show less

Silly book preschoolers will enjoy about Monster bedtime routines (which are, of course, just different enough from human routines to be funny). A fun book to read back and forth for preschool storytime.