I Spy with My Little Eye

PreS-Gr 1—This clever book combines color recognition, die-cut peek-a-boo holes, animals, and a guessing game into a successful and appealing whole that will have young listeners asking for more. The first spread contains a circle with an eye on the left side, facing a die-cut hole that shows a blue circle. The text reads: "I spy with my little eye…something that is blue." A speech bubble reads: "I am the biggest animal in the whole world." Turn the page and a full-bleed spread depicts a realistic- looking blue whale, with the cutout encircling the eye from the previous verso. And so it goes with a gray elephant, a yellow lion, a white polar bear, an orange orangutan, and a red fox, concluding with a green frog that says, "I'm a frog and I spy…you!" Each "I spy" page includes visual hints about the upcoming animal's habitat, alongside the textual clues. On the final page, the hole goes through the back cover, which asks, "What can you spy with your little eye?" While some animals are easier to guess than others, children will be so busy enjoying the page turns and the colorful spreads that not guessing an orangutan won't bother them a bit. This creative book would work equally well in storytimes or one-on-one.—Amy Lilien-Harper, The Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT