Read, Read, Read, said the Baby: Mr. Lion Dresses up! by Britta Teckentrup

Mr. Lion has been invited to a party! But what will he wear? His friend Monkey has plenty of ideas! Mr. Lion's worried face doesn't change, as there's a die-cut hole in the pages that matches each outfit to his face on the last page, but each turn of the page gives him a different look and he twists and moves around to model each outfit with varying degrees of success.

Assisted by the increasingly silly Monkey, who ends up rolling on the floor with laughter, Mr. Lion tries on outfits that include a ball gown, formal suit, clown's costume, kilt, and giant pink bunny suit.

The plain white backgrounds show the goofy monkey on the left and increasingly worried Mr. Lion on the right, changing his clothes and position with each turn of the page. Teckentrup's blocky art is simple but attractive and toddlers, although they might not understand the exact labels (even older kids may be confused by dressing as a "muscle man") will grasp the silly concept of the book.

In the end, Mr. Lion decides (or Monkey decides for him) to go just as he is, a lion without clothes. The board book is a tall rectangle, 9x6 inches, and the pages, although stiff, are a thinner cardboard than usually found in board books.

Verdict: A fun and silly addition to your board book collections. Recommended.

ISBN: 9791036313578; Published January 2020 by Tourbillion Editions; Borrowed from another library in my consortium