Don't

This oversize board book dispenses lighthearted advice for how not to interact with a variety of animals. Right-hand pages give instructions ("Don't start a food fight with an octopus"); a page turn reveals the consequences of such unwise actions (an octopus has "six more arms than you do," which means a messy kitchen). Loose watercolor illustrations provide a wealth of color, pattern, and action.

The text of this oversized board book dispenses lighthearted advice for how not to interact with a variety of animals. Right-hand pages give out instructions ("Don't start a food fight with an octopus"; "Don't invite a bear to a sleepover in winter"); a page turn reveals the consequences of such unwise actions (an octopus has "six more arms than you do," which means a very messy kitchen; hibernating bears outstay their welcome). Loose, splotchy watercolor illustrations provide a wealth of color, pattern, and action. The concept, of course, is very funny, but so are individual portraits: a frog capturing a badminton birdie with his long tongue, a girl being blown sideways by an elephant's sneeze, a penguin parachuting out of an airplane. An appealing front cover showing all the animals depicted in the book peering out at the viewer from between the letters of the word Don't finds its sly match on the book's final double-page spread, in which we see the animals lined up in a row, their backsides turned toward the viewer (the text says, "The End"). Fresh, unpredictable, and squarely in a toddler's humor wheelhouse. martha v. parravano