Kids Book Review: Little Bunny & Little Duckling

Little Duckling & Little Bunny

Mini Look at Me Books from Barron's

Text by Giovanni Caviezel

Illustrations by Laura Rigo

These two little books were part of Pumpkin's Easter basket from Grandpa and Grandma. Little Pumpkin has really enjoyed these books, and likes
having them read to her as well as looking at them independently.

Little Duckling & Little Bunny are two small board books consisting of 4 pages. And, by small I'm talking about six inches tall at most, and three inches across. They really are a small, handy size for little hands, as well as for stuffing in the diaper bag for on-the-go entertainment.

The gist of both of these books is the baby animals and their mother. Little Bunny describes how the mother bunny takes care of them, what they like to eat, where they play, etc. all in simple, short, yet descriptive sentences. The book is very short and small, so it is not overly wordy but delivers the idea well for little people. Likewise, the Little Duckling book follows the same gist: how the mother takes care of the ducklings, how they play, that they can swim and fly, etc. It is simple and accurate, yet short enough for those short-attention-span toddler moments.

My most favorite part of these two books are the illustrations. It is the most real-to-life illustrated toddler board book that I have ever seen! In Little Bunny, on the one page you can easily recognize the various flowers/weeds that the bunnies like to munch on: clover, dandelions, buttercups, Queen Anne's Lace, etc. There is so much detail in the illustrations of these tiny books that I enjoy looking at them, too! I'm pretty sure that there is a rhubarb plant on the one page, there's a lady bug on the leaf of another plant, mallard ducks flying off the pond, and all are very well drawn and colored to look as real to life as possible.

I would categorize these books as educational for the small toddler, and say they are for the age range of 1-3, or younger. Personally, I would like to add more of this book series to our library, as Little Duckling and Little Bunny are part of the miniature "Look At Me" series that is taken from the regular-sized "Look At Me" books published by Barron's Educational Series. I'm not sure what all animals are in the series, but it appears to include a lamb, puppy, horse, panda, tiger, elephant, polar bear, and penguin to name a few.

Oddly enough, I'm not sure where you can purchase these books aside from an online retailer. All of the major retail stores that I searched, such as Wal-Mart, Kohl's Target, and such did not have these books available for purchase in-store or online. Barnes & Noble appeared to have some of the books available to order. Other than that, I could only find them on amazon.com. They are quality books that would be worth searching for, I believe.