Review by Booklist Review
As in her best-selling title Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes (2008), a Booklist Editors' Choice selection, Fox creates an affectionate, singsong picture book directed straight at small children. Here, her rhyming couplets take the form of queries inviting kids to compare themselves to a zoo full of animals: Are you a monkey with clever toes? Perhaps you're a porcupine, twitching its nose. A few forced lines distract from the majority of the polished, smooth text: Are you a leopard, dozing at dusk? Perhaps you're an elephant, wielding a tusk. As a whole, though, the book has an almost hypnotic rhythm, which, depending on readers' inflections, could either lull sleepy toddlers into dreamland or entice them to action. Working in his signature medium of cut-paper collage, Jenkins coaxes clear expressions out of his animal subjects, even as his precision helps viewers zero in on the animals' features noted in the text. In the end, a clever visual matching game leads into a loving affirmation for every child.--Engberg, Gillian Copyright 2009 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Like her Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes, Fox's newest has all the marks of a lap-sit classic. In mellifluous motherese, the narrator poses a series of playful questions to a baby: "Are you a monkey with clever toes?/ Perhaps you're a porcupine, twitching its nose." After 11 more such guesses (featuring such animal faves as the gecko, the hippo and the warthog), the narrator finally gets it right: "Wait, let me guess-Are you my treasure? The answer is... Yes!" While Fox is cooing as only she can, Jenkins (What Do You Do with a Tail Like This?) works his usual magic with cut paper. In many of his large-scale closeups-the images spill across and off the spreads-his subjects' big, expressive eyes seem locked in a gaze with the reader. Ingeniously stylized shapes (like the coils of gray paper that form an elephant's trunk) combine with sumptuous detailing that brings alive the parade of scales, fur and feathers. Ages 3-5. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Fox's rhyming text is pure fun. In a layout reminiscent of Bill Martin, Jr.'s Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? (Holt, 1983), an unseen narrator says, "Hello, baby!/Who are you?" and the speculated answers range from the familiar elephant to an exotic gecko. "Are you a zebra/sipping a drink?/Perhaps you're an owl/with a wicked wink." A spread near the end of the book provides an opportunity to name the baby animals by looking at their silhouettes. Jenkins's beautifully shaded and textured collages are stand-alone works of art, each of which holds its own with Fox's engaging cadences. This collaboration results in a lovely read-aloud for preschool storytimes or a perfect selection for one-on-one sharing.-Lisa Glasscock, Columbine Public Library, Littleton, CO Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Are you a lion / with dust / on its paws?" Fox's rhyming text invites little ones to act like twelve animals. Each of Jenkins's realistic collages can't be contained in a double-page spread; a small silhouette shows the whole creature. All the silhouettes gather at the end before Fox's parent-trap ending: "Are you my treasure? / The answer is... / Yes! (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A warm authorial voice asks baby, "Who are you?" and a parade of potential animals follows. Rhyming questions introduce furry and scaly candidates, creating an irresistible call-and-response, conversational reading experience. Young readers will surely answer each erroneous guess with an emphatic, enthusiastic "Noooo!" Jenkins's vibrant cut- and torn-paper close-ups of exotic animals appear on double-page spreads of ample white space, giving readers room to thoroughly consider both illustrations and text. Vivid swaths of color and texture capture elephant wrinkles, crinkly gecko skin and even warthog whiskers. A small, full-body silhouette of each animal appears as well, providing a glimpse of the creature in motion. Fox's original language offers equally strong depictions of wildlife. She all but animates the stellar illustrations: A monkey fidgets with "clever" toes, a crocodile sits "silent and scary" and an owl gives readers a "wicked wink." Anticipation builds as baby waits for the right answer, which comes as a sweet finish on the final page. This picture book brims with fascinating animals,brilliant words and engaging artwork; it begs for cozy nightly readings. (Picture book. Newborn-5) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
