Proud preschoolers can put their new skills to the test with Cauley’s (Clap Your Hands, 1992, etc.) sly compendium of riddles that are guaranteed to stretch burgeoning imaginations. From bugs to numbers and shapes to colors, Cauley has it covered. Simple rhymes instruct children to seek out items concealed within ingenious illustrations. A blend of easier and more challenging tasks, these riddles offer a little something for everyone. New learners can simply locate basic shapes such as a circle and a square or identify familiar fruit while more advanced readers are asked to ponder which other words or pictures rhyme with a specific word. Cauley’s riddles encompass a broad range of preschool skills, including counting, mixing colors, and identifying animals and their sounds. Like a perennially perky playmate, Cauley’s rhymes encourage and cajole readers to explore their abilities. “Pairs are things / that come in twos. / Find all the pairs / besides my shoes!” The ink-and-colored pencil illustrations burst off the snow-white backgrounds; the vividly colored, playful characters instantly attract the reader’s attention. The quixotic cast of characters, which include a nattily dressed black bear and a dapper monkey sporting a flower-bedecked hat, will evoke plenty of smiles from readers. Intriguing, challenging, and most of all fun: this is one readers won’t be in a hurry to put down. (Picture book. 4-8)
