cover image Baby Animals: Touch and Explore

Baby Animals: Touch and Explore

Géraldine Krasinski, illus. by Julie Mercier. Twirl, $14.99 (16p) ISBN 978-2-74597-893-6

Flaps and tactile elements help readers get a sense of the lives of a variety of young animals, including ones that hatch from shells, are nursed by their mothers, and hitch rides in parental pouches and mouths. As might be expected, there are plenty of furry/fuzzy texture accents (for a foal, baby koala, polar bear cub, and other animals), along with leathery backs for turtle hatchlings and the comparatively smooth hides of hippos and elephants in a spread set on the savannah. In direct, readily accessible language, Krasinski describes the animals’ habits, interactions with their parents, diets, and more, and Mercier’s crisp digital artwork capitalizes on the inherent adorableness of most baby animals—even the tiger cubs and wolf pups shown devouring strips of bright red meat. Simultaneously available: Dinosaurs: Touch and Explore. Ages 3–5. (Sept.)