I reviewed this series back in 2014 and, despite an incident, said they were quite sturdy overall.

I am now having to eat my words.

The concept is simple and delightful. The main part of the book shows an adult animal, gives a clue, and then you open the little book to show the baby animal and an animal sound. This book features a series of pets; dog, cat, bird, hamster, and fish. The books are simple and short with 6 pages, the back page being full to hold the book steady.

Siminovich's art is cozy and simple and kids love the animal concept and the additional sensory treat of the differently shaped pages combined into the two books.

Unfortunately, it turns out that they are NOT sturdy - not enough for my library anyways. Something about the extra-thick cardboard pages seems to invite kids to dangle them by the smaller book part and every few months the books simply disintegrate. Sadly, I have decided to nix them from my collection and stop replacing them as it's no longer worth the money and effort.

Verdict: If your patrons are more gentle with board books or you're willing and able to purchase frequent replacements, these are adorable. However, if your patrons are rough on their books (ours are and not just on board books either) these are probably not a good choice.

ISBN: 978145213437; Published 2014 by Chronicle; Borrowed from another library in my consortium (whose patrons are clearly more gentle with their board books than us)