Rhyming text and stunningly-detailed illustrations of animals in their natural habitats combine to provide information about how animals carry their young. Most sentences had at least a couple of words with missing spaces between them, which was hard enough for an adult to read, let alone for a kid! The text formatting in the ebook version wasn't great. I know a lot of Americans think that Tasmania is some separate country, but it's one of Australia's eight states and territories! To say kangaroos live in "Australia and Tasmania" is just weird! It's like saying Alaska isn't part of the USA (and Tasmania is much closer to the Australian mainland than Alaska is to the other US states)! We never talk about Tasmania like that! However, I was pretty taken aback by a mistake in the back matter. There are activities at the end that will help carry this book far beyond the initial read. The rhyme gets the general idea across, and the rest of the text goes into more detail - ideal for a parent of teacher to read out and begin longer conversations. The text is written half in rhyme and half not. I know I would have loved the pictures when I was younger. I read this one as an ebook from the library, but even in the smaller images on my screen, it was clear the artwork in the book is detailed and is going to hold a child's attention for a long time while they notice all the little touches. Putting my tablet on its side helps a bit, but I can’t imagine someone trying to read it on their phone. The end page facts, especially, I can see readers having trouble with. I was a bit worried it would be hard to read due to the text size, and it is a bit small at times. I wasn’t sure at first, as the formatting shows both pages at once and I couldn’t find a way to get it to just show the one (the way it displays at first makes it look like each animal will have its own page). There’s also an additions fact section at the back of the book, where readers can find additional facts about each animal family. I think I’d suggest that if you do pick up the book, I’d stick to the poetry for the first read through - you can always backtrack to the facts afterwards. The poems at least make the attempt at following a meter throughout the book - the facts interrupt the rhythm altogether. I found it distracted from the rhythm of reading, though, event more than the off-beat poems already did. (Summarizing the verse accompanying it?) This is fine, for the most part. The second part of the text is just a quick fact about the animal, consisting of a sentence or two. On penguins: “The mother lays a single egg. It probably wouldn’t be as noticeable for the kids who would be listening, but it was something I found was noticeable enough that it took something away from the reading experience. This meter (?) is a bit irritating - while everything rhymes, some of the lines are longer or shorter, and the ‘beat’ is off, especially from page to page. The first, main text, is a short verse about how the parent transports their baby - from the kangaroos carrying their babies in pouches, to the otter tying its’ baby down while it hunts. Each animal parent & child have their own two page spread (page? I’ll have to double check) with two pieces of text. I don’t know how much a child might like them, though, as they’re so different from the usual cartoonish styles. They’re appealing to adult readers, with a great amount of care taken to detail. They look like they might be paintings, and are done in a realistic style. A little more simplistic than I was expecting (Libby uses juvenile as a category for books from toddler to pre-teen), but it’s a good resource for its intended age level - I’d guess for up to age 5 or so? It seems more like a book you would read to or with a younger child, or toddler. I thought this looked like a really cute book.
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