SOUNDS OF THE FOREST

Just enough information for toddlers—and noisy too!

The forest of the title is the rainforest. A close-up of a
gorilla nibbling on a leaf invites readers to explore this habitat. On the first
spread a chimp is shown trying to catch a raindrop. The spare text reads, “Raindrops
splash.” The following six spreads
follow a pattern: an adjective that describes the animal shown is followed by a
sound that animal might make: “Singing frogs hum.” Preschoolers will want to imitate the animals’ noisy
behaviors and “hoot” like the chimpanzees, “squawk” like the parrots, “munch” like
that gorilla, and “thud” like a herd of elephants. Order is restored on the
final spread: “Night air whispers”—illustrated
by the elephant and parrot, now sleeping. The verbs are emphasized by larger,
colored type. The simple repetition expands young children’s vocabularies without
distracting and wordy explanations. Despite all the noise, a fair amount of
information about the African rainforest is relayed through detailed, if
somewhat idealized, pictures. Dogi created the layered paintings using an
airbrush, with details added by hand. Oversized tropical plants, decorative
butterflies, and animals stand out against clean white backgrounds.

Share this sturdy, age-appropriate board book
freely—just don’t expect a quiet storytime.
(Board book. 2-4)