cover image Who’s Hiding?

Who’s Hiding?

Agnese Baruzzi. Bonnier/Little Bee (S&S, dist.), $9.99 (16p) ISBN 978-1-4998-0168-2

Italian artist Baruzzi invites readers to unfold large, half-page flaps in order to discover the animals hiding behind them. A skinny red-orange carrot in the center of one scene becomes the ears of a rabbit after the image expands, while a tree’s spindly branches transform into the antlers of a deer after another page opens. The singsong rhymes that offer clues to the animals’ identities tend to be treacly (“Among the palms, two creatures dance./ They twist and flutter, bob and prance”), but Baruzzi’s surreal, stylized illustrations have a haunting, mural-like quality when fully expanded, and the clever ways in which she disguises the animals create a satisfying series of reveals. Ages 3–6. (Aug.)