.

Peek-A-Zoo!

by Nina Laden

Chronicle Books        2014

978-1-4521-1175-9

Age 0 to 3    20pages

.

“Peek-a mew? Peek-a ‘roo? Peek-a zoo! In this hilarious follow-up to the bestselling board book Peek-a Who, Nina Laden turns her playful eye (and ear) to the animal world. Read the clue . . . guess the animal . . . giggle wildly . . . and repeat!”

Review

Peek-a Zoo. What can I say about this interesting board book? First, when you even open it, you see a pair of eyes encased in blue. What in the world could this be? Check real close. The eyes have long eyelashes. Below the eyes would be a nose, but instead, there are two lines down that have lines moving horizontally from the first line to the second. This cannot be a nose, so what is it? The one big clue is this . . . “Zoo.” It has to be an animal. A blue animal? Well, I give up. I am turning the page . . . oh, my, gosh! It is an elephant! No, not just an elephant, but a kangaroo, a panda, a tiger, and a cockatoo, too.

Now there is nothing left to do but turn the thick, baby-safe pages and find out what is next in this Peek-a Zoo. The page is orange with black stripes. Maybe it is black with orange stripes. There is also a stripe of orange running down the middle that looks more like a river. What animal has a river of orange running down the middle of . . . what? Its face, its arm, its back, its stomach? Do you know? Me either. I’m turning the page. Whoa! It could be an orange kitty playing with a ball of yarn or a baby tiger. Look at the eyes! They are green and look maniacal. Look at the ears; they are round, not pointy like most kitties. I think this is a baby tiger!

Time to turn the page again. Then again, and again. Each new set of two pages has a new zoo animal for you and your child to guess. Add some ferocious sounds and you will have your child roaring along in laughter. I’ve not seen the first by Nina Laden, titled Peek-a Who, but if it is anything like Peek-a Zoo, I understand why it was a bestseller.

The illustrations are bright, colorful images kids will instantly recognize. Plus, little ones love animals. I think one reason they like animals is because it gives mom or dad, grandma or grandpa, aunt or uncle, or maybe even big brother or sister, the opportunity to not only read the book, but to add voices as well. Animal voices. What could be better than that? “Roooaar!” How about each page having an “oo” sound one might find in a z-oo, as in a kangar-oo, bamb-oo, and cockat-oo. The “oo” sound is one of those that you can elongate and exaggerate, which is usually good for a smile, if not a laugh. One word of caution: be careful of the last animal, it is the most ferocious of them all.

PEEK-A ZOO! Text and illustrations copyright © 2014 by Nina Laden. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Chronicle Books, San Francisco, CA.

.

Learn more about Peek-a Zoo Here.

Buy Peek-a Zoo at Amazon—B&N—Chronicle Books—your local bookstore.

.

Meet the author / illustrator, Nina Laden, at her website: http://www.ninaladen.com/

Find more wonderful board books at the Chronicle Books website:  https://www.chroniclebooks.com/

.

Also by Nina Laden

.

.

.

.

.

.

Also by Chronicle Books

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.