“There are birds with big beaks, / but not even a few can / hold as much fruit / as the beak of a toucan.” Captioned by this and similarly frisky proto-riddles, McKie’s brightly colored menagerie will make fascinating viewing for the diapered set. The big, familiar animals appear against textured, vibrant, mostly monochromatic backgrounds, and two playfully die-cut foldouts—one going up to make room for a tall giraffe, the other opening sideways to reveal a toothy lion—provide additional peek-a-boo drama. As if that’s not enough, the typeface occasionally wraps itself around its subject to ratchet up the visual fun. Both the clever rhyming and the broad, simple brushwork in the pictures recall Doug Florian’s fauna-themed works. Read it aloud for best effect; young children will name all the creatures with enthusiasm. (Picture book. 3-6)
