Sarah Massini's (Trixie Ten) artwork starring adorable toddlers of all shapes, sizes and skin tones steals the show in Jane Blatt's ode to the necessity of books.
The toddlers' books, too, come in all sizes for all sorts of occasions. A mouse and a curly-topped toddler open a giant book featuring an elephant, which fills the first spread ("Book big"), and on the next page, the mouse itself stars with a crawling blond child ("Book small"). With books "wide" (with a crocodile character) and books "tall" (a giraffe stars), and taking refuge inside a book fort that substitutes for a house of cards, toddlers gather around books in all kinds of settings. One especially endearing spread pictures a king-size bed full of toddlers in various states of sleepiness (yawning, stretching, slumbering), surrounded by the sheep they're meant to count (one book's title is Counting Sheep).
All of the toddlers (and nearly all of the supporting cast) gather for the final two-page spread. Littlest ones will enjoy discovering all the ways that books may be incorporated into their daily routines, and also searching for the little mouse in every illustration. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness