Read, Read, Read, said the Baby: Hide-and-sleep by Lizi Boyd

Sometimes, I just... don't get it. I liked the illustrations in this, but the seek-and-find aspect just bewildered me. Granted, I may just need more sleep or was particularly dim on the day I read this, but if I don't get it, will a baby?

The book is a tall rectangle, 12x6 inches. There are seven spreads, the first three having half-page flaps you can alternate to change the picture. The spreads show a busy landscape, with trees, composed of simple circles and geometric shapes, animals marked with black heads and one white eye, and a closer look reveals ears and tails of animals hiding. The text of the first spread reads, "Let's play! Turtle peeks. Butterfly dips. Rabbit listens. Who is hiding?" If you turn the top flap, a big tree with birds, set against a yellow background is shown. Turn the bottom flap and you will see the scene beneath the tree; the ears belonged to a raccoon and there's a pond with fish. The next two spreads follow the same pattern.

The fourth spread answers the question, "Who is hiding?" with "No one!" showing most of the animals together on one page. The next pages show the scene at night, with all the animals sleeping, including the nocturnal animals (fox, raccoon).

The line of the flaps is just below the spiky blue thing and the pair of blue ears.

The art is high-contrast, but it just struck me as too busy. There are little black lines and circles inside the circles of the trees, and then there are drips and bits of color, the triangles of fish, strips of grass, hills and flowers, and little ears and tails everywhere. While it would be fun for toddlers to browse through and point out things, it's not really a seek-and-find book and it's too busy for babies.

Verdict: The art is whimsical and attractive - it makes me think of something I'd see in a children's bedroom in Ikea (That's not a dig btw, I like that stuff) but it's too sophisticated for littler ones and not clear enough on the seek-and-find aspects for older readers. An additional purchase for board book collections. However, if you have patrons who like this, there are going to be additional books in the series.

ISBN: 9781452170961; Published April 2019 by Chronicle; Borrowed from another library in my consortium