WHAT DOES BABY LOVE?

Babies play with things they love in this lift-a-flap book.

The simple format shows a series of babies having a good time, and for each, readers are asked, "What does baby love?" With help from their caregivers, little ones are meant to guess what each baby loves before lifting a flap to reveal the answer. Unfortunately there aren't any visual clues that help readers guess the answer, creating an often arbitrary guessing game. A baby sits happily behind a scattering of toys including a teddy bear, alphabet blocks and a drum. Question: “What does baby love?” Answer: “Noisy toys!” the text proclaims, and the baby is shown banging on the drum. Readers may legitimately wonder, what is wrong with the bear and the blocks? Cumbersome full-page flaps make the game even more unpleasant, requiring an effort that makes the payoff hardly feel worth it. Katz’s trademark bland color scheme and minimal design do little to entice readers either. For all Katz’s track record, this effort feels pretty phoned-in.

A board book that’s about as exciting as plain oatmeal.