PLAY HIDE-AND-SEEK WITH PEPE & MILLIE

A cat, a dog, and a bird play hide-and-seek with the help of dexterous readers.

Movable elements “animate” the hide-and-seek play of Pepe the dog and Millie the cat, as well as their little friend Emma, a bird, in this simple, charmingly illustrated story. The thick pages of this board book incorporate sliding panels that allow the characters to slip behind trees, reeds, and flowerbeds, among other things, hiding or revealing themselves depending on which way readers slide the panels. Window and door flaps offer more possible hiding places for toddlers to explore, although a rough toddler with a good grip might make short work of them. When Pepe and Millie can’t find Emma, they search the kitchen, where readers can open the doors to the cabinets and also to the oven, where Pepe is baking a cake. Hopefully, kids will realize that ovens get hot and are not suitable places to hide or play. This book may well delight toddlers, but caregivers should probably give it a dry run by themselves to figure out how to operate the various features. Opening the flaps for the first time and moving the sliding panels can be tricky, although the book is generally well-designed and not hard to operate. The simultaneously publishing A Day with Pepe & Millie uses the sliding panels to show characters swinging, feeding fish, and slurping spaghetti, among other activities.

Endearing characters and tactile involvement, with a little coaching, should make this a hit with toddlers.