The daddy animal book by Jennifer Cossins

Lothian Children's books, 2020. ISBN: 9780734419873.
(Age: 2-6) Highly recommended. Jennifer Cossins has come up with a marvellous, informative picture book that will thrill its readers, who will learn not only the names of daddy animals but what baby animals are called as well and some detailed information about the animal.
Although almost giving the appearance of a small board book, the information inside is impressive. Children will learn that a daddy polar bear is called a boar, while its baby is a cub. Then there is a descriptive sentence telling how the boar can be as heavy as a car, and the baby when it is born is not heavier than a jar of honey. This format is repeated throughout the book, with two short sentences describing the father and offspring, then a longer sentence giving interesting details that will really increase both adult and children's knowledge of the animals presented. The repetition of the daddy and baby's names in the longer sentence will also aid in remembering them.
I was enthralled by the beautiful detailed picture accompanying the details about the turkey family. Set against a pale lilac background is a gorgeous daddy turkey surrounding by its little poults. The daddy penguin is gorgeous with its little chick balancing on its toes, and the daddy wombat (a jack) can be seen against a stylised landscape of tufts of grass, outlined in black. All the illustrations are beautifully drawn with the daddy animal standing out, with its baby or babies around it.
This is a first buy for libraries as it would be a very useful aid to research and discussion about animals in the classroom. As a home library addition, it would give rise to discussion and expansion of many animals. Others by this award winning author are The mummy animal book, A-Z of endangered animals and The ultimate animal counting book, all equallyinformative for the young inquisitive child.
Pat Pledger