WHO AM I?

Sturdy, slide-and-see puzzles introduce toddlers to a few favorite animals in this French import.

In a book designed to be operated by rough, young hands, several animal friends hide, more or less, in plain sight. “Who am I?” the cover queries, as two big eyes peer out of a nondescript explosion of yellow, with a few black, ambiguous lines. Pull on the easy-to-grip tab, and two ears, a nose, and a mouth slide up into place, revealing the unmistakable features of a cat whose tail, readers will note slinks around to the book’s back cover. Inside, the front cover’s reverse page sports featureless masses of tan, orange, and brown. The facing page asks, “Hoo, hoo… / Who is awake when night comes?” Pull the tab again: “It’s me, the owl!” The book goes on to present a frog, a bear, a tortoise, a snail, a rabbit, a fox, an elephant, and a duck, each with an appropriate animal sound and one easily assimilated fact per creature. The final image is of an egg, from which a chick hatches when a helping toddler hand slides the page open. There is much here to captivate the youngest readers: interactive tactile activity, animal sounds to replicate, and questions that can all be answered in the repeating format, “It’s me, the frog [or bear, tortoise, snail, etc.].”

The elegant simplicity of the artwork, content, and format should make this a repeatable favorite for kids and caregivers alike.