Simms Taback Books - Safari Animals

School Library Journal This book is boldly illustrated and cheerful, with foldout pages that contain guessing games. On the first verso, "Who am I?" is written in a childlike, chunky font next to a pair of huge gray legs with pink-toed feet. The facing page is black, with the words "I have big feet" in white letters. Open it upward and a larger view of the animal is unveiled, this time exposing four gray legs, a curled-up trunk, and orange tusks. The newly opened flap is a vivid blue and contains the words, "I have a l-o-n-g nose." The page folds out once again to reveal the whole animal in an eye-catching green setting: "I'm an ELEPHANT!" That's the formula for six creatures-but the formula doesn't begin to describe the wonder of opening up each page into a satisfyingly enormous illustration in the master designer/illustrator's typically pleasing shapes with thick, black outlines and wildly contrasting colors. One particularly enjoyable spread shows a golden-brown hippo with yellow eyes, a pink polka-dot mouth, and a fabulously purple background. Young children will have a blast, over and over again, opening the pages, looking at the pictures, and identifying the animals.
Reviewed by Susan Weitz, formerly at Spencer-Van Etten School District, Spencer, NY

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Childrens Literature Colorful stripes introduce the cover of this surprisingly heavy 9" square book. The reason for the weight is that the six double-page spreads in the book turn out to be quadruple-page spreads as the right side of what appears to be a double-page spread folds up (two pages to three) and over to the left to become one large 17" by 17" picture of a wild animal. The pages are of substantial weight. The large pictures are of an elephant, zebra, hippopotamus, ostrich, lion, and giraffe. "Who am I?" asks the first page with the full picture only partially exposed. The second page offers a clue: "I'm the largest bird." Page three reveals another clue: "I cannot fly." And finally an ostrich is revealed. This book will be fun to read together when new, and later the book will be sturdy enough and familiar enough, to be read by a child alone.
Reviewed by Eleanor Heldrich

Here’s a book that’s also a guessing game!
Turn the page for your first clue: "I have a huge mane." Open the flap and you'll see another: "I can roar." Open one more, and you'll see the answer to the riddle: "It's a lion!" In this colorful book of safari animals, Simms’ award-winning art becomes a fun, interactive guessing game.
— from the Publisher