Alaska's Animals by Shannon Cartwright
Another lovely board book published by Little Bigfoot (an imprint of Sasquatch books), author and illustrator, Shannon Cartwright brings together these Alaskan natives in a book that sets children's minds to observing and comparing animal characteristics.
"Fur, flippers, tusks, and paws, teeth, and claws. Alaska's animals are all different from their heads to their toes." With close-up illustrations, Alaska's Animals brings eyes, whiskers, noses, tusks, beaks, and teeth, to name a few, into focus as children look at the difference between, for example, a whale's mouth and a polar bear's mouth.
My only hesitation towards the book is that while it's a wonderful idea to compare animals from different habitats, I think it could be confusing for a toddler to understand why there's a humpback whale above a handful of land animals (as seen in the illustration below). It's a lovely illustration and I can see how Cartwright's intention was to make the whale, and other sea creatures, appear to be swimming in water, but for a young toddler, I just wonder if that might be too abstract.
Thank you again to Little Bigfoot for the review copy! As always, feel free to comment below with some of your favorite board book finds! You can also use #wheretheboardbooksare to show me your board book finds on Instagram.