2007 / Library book / 24 pages / UK
**
She doesn't have the vocabulary to get the puns and its novelty subversions failed to blow her tiny mind. I can't remember if it had flaps and things – if not, dock a point.
Marion Billet, Listen to the Baby Animals
***
I'd managed to avoid noisy books until now, thanks to them tending to be checked out of the library, but these authentic field recordings were less annoying than tinny nursery rhymes or character voices or something. I'm just surprised she only wanted to go two rounds before moving on, but they had others.
Marion Billet, Listen to the Carnival of the Animals
***
This musical interpretation of animals' personalities for toddlers would be a bit disappointing if you thought you were getting more nature sounds, but as someone who loves the mimicry of 'A Lark Ascending' and Beethoven's Sixth (not so much Rimsky-Korsakov's, mind), I appreciated it. We'll be on Bowie's 'Peter and the Wolf' in no time.
1986 / Library book / 24 pages / UK
***
This old-school tyke hasn't caught on like the Mr. Men, but she still picked him off the shelf, maybe recognising him from that story she always skips in the treasuries. This was a more entertaining escapade than most at least, complete with inappropriately death-defying stunts.
Lucy Cousins, Little Fish and Mummy
*
I wonder if Lucy Cousins actually wrote these rhymes or they just had a ghostwriter come up with something adequate while they literally copy-pasted all the same images from the first book in different configurations. Lazy cash-in crap, but that's educational in itself.
