SOUNDS OF THE FOREST

Just enough information for toddlers—and noisy too!

The forest of the title is the rainforest. A close-up of a gorilla nibbling on a leaf invites readers to explore this habitat. On the first spread a chimp is shown trying to catch a raindrop. The spare text reads, “Raindrops splash.” The following six spreads follow a pattern: an adjective that describes the animal shown is followed by a sound that animal might make: “Singing frogs hum.” Preschoolers will want to imitate the animals’ noisy behaviors and “hoot” like the chimpanzees, “squawk” like the parrots, “munch” like that gorilla, and “thud” like a herd of elephants. Order is restored on the final spread: “Night air whispers”—illustrated by the elephant and parrot, now sleeping. The verbs are emphasized by larger, colored type. The simple repetition expands young children’s vocabularies without distracting and wordy explanations. Despite all the noise, a fair amount of information about the African rainforest is relayed through detailed, if somewhat idealized, pictures. Dogi created the layered paintings using an airbrush, with details added by hand. Oversized tropical plants, decorative butterflies, and animals stand out against clean white backgrounds.

Share this sturdy, age-appropriate board book freely—just don’t expect a quiet storytime