Read, Read, Read, said the Baby: In my forest by Sara Gillingham and Lorena Siminovich

[This review was previously published. It has been edited and rewritten]

Lorena Siminovich has done several board books with unique design and charming illustrations. This is one of her older books, part of a series about baby animals in various habitats.
As you can tell from the cover, each page has a die-cut circle, set to show the little finger puppet that sticks through from the back. The pages showcase the little finger puppet in the snow, chewing on twigs and acorns, running with friends through what appears to be a spring scene, and curled up at night with its family. The finger puppet has a kind of light nylon stocking for the finger with a flat felt puppet on the end of the finger.

The writing is pretty blah and there's not really a good sequence to the "story" but the main draw of something like this is the novelty aspect, i.e. the finger puppet. Which means my main concern is how will it hold up? The copy I borrowed has had the spine taped and shows light wear along the inner edges of the die cut circles, but the finger puppet remains intact. The stitching holding the deer to the finger stocking is tight and the details on the deer itself are embroidery, so nothing that can be pulled off. Siminovich's illustrations are adorable, but nothing more than that.

Verdict: This is cute, but I'm not in love with it enough to go back and purchase it from the backlist, although it's still in print. It would be a good choice if you're looking to add more interactive/novelty books to your board book section though.

ISBN: 9780811875660; Published 2010 by Chronicle; Borrowed from another library in my consortium