Animals Move

Book excerpt: Preschoolers love baby animals, and they love to move. Celebrate both with a hard-wearing Toddler Tough picture book perfect for an active read-aloud. Calves swim, / Hatchlings bounce, / Porcupettes nibble, / Kittens pounce. Story time is on the move with this multilayered concept book. Preschoolers will enjoy learning fun baby animal names from echidna "puggles" to goat whale "calves," and they'll revel in using their bodies to mimic the movements each animal makes. Bright photographs give a close-up look at every kitten, cygnet, and foal, as well as young children who are pouncing, snuggling, and racing alongside them. The rhyming text teaches young minds pattern recognition for language learning and reading readiness, and a closing spread of enriching, age-appropriate activities keeps the learning going. A new addition to the Big, Little Concepts series by author and children's librarian Jane Whittingham, Animals Move will have everybody wiggling and giggling through story time. Later, little ones can explore the book on their own with its padded cover, rounded corners, and extra-heavy pages that are easy to turn and hard to tear.