Yikes! Discovery Series: What dwells in the deep? by Kelly Ward-Wills, illustrated by Steve James

I love nonfiction but it's really hard to find nonfiction board books that are both nonfiction (some of the things review journals call "nonfiction" are just ridiculous) and actual suited to a board book audience of infants and toddlers. You can, of course, argue that older children can enjoy board books as well and some do, but the vast majority of my caregivers and parents firmly view this format as "baby books" and I'm not going to waste time in a pointless effort to convince them otherwise.

Anyways, I was eager to see this new series from a small publisher and it turned out to be surprisingly good! The book opens with a boat floating on the water, piloted by a dark-skinned man with a beard with two dark-skinned children, a boy and a girl, on deck. They are looking at a leatherback sea turtle who is diving into the ocean.

Readers follow the turtle down to where it swims with a school of little striped fish and finds its food, jellyfish. As the readers go deeper, they meet a giant oarfish, vampire squid, sperm whale, anglerfish, dumbo octopus, and finally a snailfish at the deepest part of the ocean.

The text is very lengthy for a board book, but it actually works quite well. It uses simple, descriptive words with the name of the creature highlighted, so the adult reader can easily adapt it for shorter attention spans. Some sample sentences are, "What's that bright light shining in the black water?" or "Bye, sperm whale! We're going to see what dwells even deeper!"

The pages are numbered, unusual in a board book, and the final spread includes additional information about each creature. This will be useful for caregivers to read themselves so they can answer questions and incorporate the information into their read-alouds. There is a typo in the description of the dumbo octopus. The pages are made of thin cardboard, but it should be sufficiently sturdy for a board book, and the book is slightly larger than an average board book at 8.5x8.5 inches.

Verdict: This unique board book would be a great addition to any board book collection, especially one that caters to classes of toddlers and preschoolers. This makes a fun read-aloud for storytime as well, and the slightly larger size should make it work for a small or medium group. Recommended.

ISBN: 9781777081799; Published December 2022 by Eye of Newt Books; Review copy provided by publicist; Donated to the library