A Pinky is a Baby Mouse: And Other Baby Animal Names

This delightful book introduces children to the correct, though little-known, names of more than 100 newborn creatures. Vivid color illustrations and catchy rhyming verse make A Pinky Is a Baby Mouse a perfect read-along choice.

Grade 1-3?A picture book that features the specific names for a variety of animals and their babies. Soft watercolors, accompanied by short rhyming verses, flow across two-page spreads. Eels and seals swim the blue seas with their elvers and beach weaners. Giraffes and their calves keep an eye on a lazy lion and his cubs under a hazy orange sky. The pleasant illustrations are offset by the bland verse: "Fluffy, scruffy swan/please do not forget,/you're not an 'ugly duckling.'/You're a beautiful cygnet!" Overall, the greatest value here lies in the alphabetical listing of 100 adult animals and the corresponding names for their offspring that appears at the end of the book.?Lisa Wu Stowe, Great Neck Library, NY
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Ryan (The Flag We Love, 1996, etc.) goes from barnyard and backyard to ocean and outback to reveal in rhymed couplets the names of baby animals. Each spread describes three animal young of a particular habitat, posing a fourth infant as a question: ``I am a baby mackerel./Tell me, what's my name?'' In the turn of the page comes the answer: ``Tiny, shiny mackerel/you're just a little tyke,/and until you grow much bigger/you are called a spike!'' Familiar and informative names are included; readers will recognize baby frogs as polliwogs and baby owls as owlets but may not know that baby seals are beach weaners and baby jellyfish are ephyras. From deGroat come serene seascapes and lush ponds, sun-drenched savannas and nocturnal woodlands, all rendered in subdued watercolors; cuddly creatures populate tranquil scenes of the natural world surrounding these newborns. An alphabetical listing of the babies' names provides the perfect ending. (Picture book/nonfiction. 4-8) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Ages 5-8. Using a rhyming verse, this book introduces baby animals and the interesting, sometimes odd terms by which they are known: "Fluffy scruffy swan / please do not forget, / you're not an `ugly duckling,' / You're a beautiful cygnet." To maximize the roster of creatures, each section features rhymes about three baby animals before asking the name of one particular one. The book is slightly out of kilter, and it is really a somewhat older crowd that will be the most interested in the names of baby animals or that will have even the vaguest chance at the book's guessing-game aspect. Even so, kids will enjoy the colorful paintings featuring lots of cute animals. The book ends with an extended list of terms for baby animals. Ilene Cooper