Note: I received a digital review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. ( )

This book shows many animals playing with their mothers and siblings. Their purpose for play is exercise as well to learn how to behave as an adult. They need to be able to fight to survive in the wild when their mothers are not around to protect and defend them anymore as well as how to gather food and take care of themselves and their own families. The illustrations are beautiful photographs taken by Suzi Eszterhas, who is a wildlife photographer and animal activist. All the photos in this book are of baby animals playing in the wild. The text that is included are short anecdotes describing what is happening in the pictures as well as identifying the animals. This is a great read aloud story for young children. Discussions about human play and how it relates to animal play could also occur during and after reading. A great non-fiction book to add to school and family libraries. A good book for any animal lovers. The publisher generously provided me with a copy of this book via netgalley.

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These two titles are part of a series by wildlife photographer and author Suzi Eszterhas. I've really loved her books in the past and, although some are a little long for reading with younger children, they are great fun to look at and talk about.

Eszterhas knows just what interests children - cute animal babies! In Baby Animals Moving she explores how a wide variety of baby animals get around. A lion cub is carried in its mother's mouth, a warthog piglet trots through the grass, bear cubs piggyback on their mom in the water, and many other animals cavort through the pages. Some of the text is a little clumsy, "Orca calves are strong swimmers. They dive and flip as they move through the ocean with their family pod. Sometimes they swim for miles to find fish to eat. See you later, orcas!" but it's simple enough to explain to a young child and kids will enjoy mimicking the different animal movements.

Another title in this series, Baby animals playing, features a different set of cute baby animals frolicking; but it's not all fun and games, their play will prepare them for survival later in life. A bison calf butts heads to practice protective moves, jackal pups play with a ball of elephant poop to learn to work together, and many baby animals climb trees. The text in this title isn't quite as even - some explain how the baby animals' play will help them survive later, other pages just make generic comments, "Raccoon kits perch high in the treetops. It's a safe place to hang out while Mom looks for food below."

But the real focus of the books are the engaging photos of wildlife and different movements that kids can mimic as well as showing young children how they are similar and different to animals. Back matter includes a note from the author and some additional photographs and information about them.

Verdict: These are great introductions to animals for young children and I will happily add them to my animal section (and my storytimes) to spark interest in preschool and kindergarten-age listeners.

Baby Animals Moving; ISBN: 9781771472999; Published 2018 by Owl Kids; Borrowed from another library in my consortium

Baby Animals Playing; ISBN: 9781771472975; Published 2017 by Owl Kids; Borrowed from another library in my consortium