Who Am I?: An Animal Guessing Game by Steve Jenkins (review)

Seven different animals introduce themselves to the reader, each with a spread outlining key characteristics ("I have … a sticky, flicky tongue, bumpy green skin, two bulging eyeballs") that then transitions to a reveal ("I'm a frog!"). This is basically just a list, but the guessing game is a good entree for very young naturalists, and the clues encourage youngsters to look at taxonomically significant characteristics like mouth, feet, and diet. Clever layout adds punch; in each spread of characteristics, legs dangle down into the page from the top of the frame, a tight circle zooms in for emphasis on an aspect of anatomy, and the colorway is carefully chosen to create unity against the white space. This would be a great spur to zoo-trip investigation or just to thinking more carefully about what gets encountered in the backyard. End matter drills down to a particular species for each subject and gives more information. DS