MY BEAK, YOUR BEAK

Walsh (Big and Little, not reviewed, etc) continues to delight and inform toddlers with these two celebrations of unity in diversity. “Dachshunds are long with little legs. Dalmatians are tall and spotty. But . . . they both love chasing sticks!” In characteristically large, very simple paintings, these dogs, and four other animal pairs, pose playfully against bright monochromatic backgrounds in the first volume. Similarly depicted, a quartet of light- and dark-skinned children graces My Nose, Your Nose (0-618-15077-3). “Davy’s skin is brown. Agnes’s skin is white. But . . . they both have cheeky pink tongues!” And like their mates Kit and Arthur—and everyone else—they close their eyes when they go to sleep. As there’s no corresponding sense of closure in My Beak, Your Beak, the two titles form a seamless whole, making this more like one work for the price of two—still, the theme is certainly important enough to justify the extra expense. (Picture book. 2-4)