Do Penguins Have Puppies?: A Book About Animal Babies

Polar Worlds (Surrey, England)

"The idea of this book is to enable children to learn about baby animals, and it certainly succeeds in its aim to introduce interesting snippets of information, such as what baby animals are called, what they can do, what they like to do, special physical attributes and so on. So for example, the young reader learns that 'baby horses, called foals, can stand an hour or two after they are born. Soon they are running, jumping and playing. Foals also have a good sense of smell. A foal can find its mother by her smell.' The book's illustrations are colourful and humorous. But for me it is the latter that presents the book's Achillies Heel, as the drawings require a small leap of imagination to accurately identify the animals. Children at the age this book is aimed at need to recognize at this stage and not have to decipher. What I did like, however, came at the back of the book where we find a couple of pages of more animal facts and information, such as animal babies that are hatched from eggs and those that are born in the open air. It also includes animal words to know ('den- a place where a bear sleeps. A bear's den might be a cave or hollow tree') and a list of various websites. I certainly wouldn't purchase the book for its illustrations, but I liked all the animal facts and it is a good first stage to learning about animals." - Polar Worlds (Surrey, England)

August 1, 2003