You'll have a basket of fun with this interactive lift-the-flap board book which will get your babies and toddlers joining right in. It starts, "I wrote to the zoo to send me a pet. They sent me an . . ." On the right hand page, there's a yellow box marked "VERY HEAVY!" Pull down on the little tab, and there's a big gray elephant in there. The text says, "He was too big! I sent him back." On each successive page is an unsuitable animal in a crate. The giraffe is too tall, the lion too fierce, the camel too grumpy, the snake too scary, the monkey too naughty, and the frog too jumpy. Little ones will pull open each flap, call out the name of the animal, and repeat the refrain. What is the perfect pet? A dog, of course. This is the 25th Anniversary edition of the book, originally published in 1982, though there's also a spiffy pop-up version available.
THEMES: ANIMALS. TOYS.
- It is interactive, amusing, and has a little surprise at the end. The simple, bright illustrations are set on sturdy white pages, and the shape of the crate and other hints in the picture will have kids quickly guessing which animal has arrived.
- Children