Good Night, Baby Animals: You've Had a Busy Day

PreS-K—Two animal lovers have created a chapter book for toddlers or beginning readers, with each chapter focusing on a baby African or Asian animal. There are tiger cubs as well as a baby elephant, giraffe, rhino, panda, and gorilla—all of which will fascinate children. Each chapter features a story in which the baby animal explores her habitat, is taken care of by her mother, and finally drifts off to sleep. Every chapter has a descriptive title ("Baby Elephant's Little Trunk" and "Is Baby Giraffe Tall Enough?") and uses repetitive words in bold font, most of them verbs (the baby rhino "blinks" and "squints," while the tiger cubs "dash," "run," and "tumble"). Taken together, the chapters result in a narrative with a predictable pattern that works equally well for toddlers learning to listen to a story and beginning readers who are gaining confidence in word recognition. The illustrations show sweet-looking animals with large, sympathetic eyes in a soft color palette that will appeal to young readers, and the end pages contain short paragraphs that expand the tales with additional facts about each animal's features, its behavior, or its habitat. This selection is a bit long for young children and might best be read over several sessions.