Children will love this endearing series and learn much about some favorite animals. Information is presented via simply written sentences, generally one to three per page. A Table of Contents is a sophisticated element for this audience and, facing it in each volume is an alphabetical list of sight words found in the book. Each volume presents its featured animal’s life stages, explaining growth, development, and body changes as the animal gets larger. New, boldfaced vocabulary is defined in the glossary and in context, with new words used as captions on photos: In the elephant volume, “herd” is the label on the photo of an elephant herd. The series includes excellent graphics, with “too cute” color close-ups on covers and throughout. In some full-page photos, arrows connect words to specific parts of images, e.g., in the elephant volume, an arrow points from the label “mom” to a photo of an elephant mom with her calf; other photo-arrow “connections” in that book are for “trunk” and for a calf “drinking milk.” Large type and ample white space facilitate easy reading for young learners. Back matter includes pictures sharing more baby facts, a photo glossary, recommended resources for further learning, and an index. VERDICT Children will come away knowledgeable, charmed, and delighted. Highly recommended.

Libraries will have no trouble circulating the Too Cute! series, which gives beginning readers a glimpse of baby animals, their activities, and key stages of growth. Written at a kindergarten level with plenty of repetition, these books feature one to two short sentences per double page spread, with vocabulary appearing in bold and supported by a well-chosen, full-page stock photograph. Across the volumes, the text follows a similar formula. The books begin by greeting the baby (“Hello, fawn!”); then move onto the animal’s birth, appearance, diet, activities, and growth; and conclude with the animal reaching adulthood and setting out on its own (“Goodbye, mom!"). A darling fawn is the star of Baby Deer, which explains how these babies have spots for camouflage that they outgrow once they become yearlings. Fuzzy ducklings toddle through Baby Ducks, where they can be seen hatching from eggs, using their webbed feet to swim, and eating with their bills. In Baby Koalas, a tiny pink joey grows in its mother’s pouch, from which it emerges to ride on her back and munch on leaves. A playful black-and-white cub frolics, eats bamboo, and naps in trees in Baby Pandas. Each volume ends with an illustrated recap of its animal’s life stages and its daily activities as well as a photo glossary. A strong, adorable series.

Close-up photos of baby animals highlight this set. Simple text describes the animals’ behavior in the early stages of life, with one or two sentences per page. Large fonts and double-spaced text are aimed at early readers. So is the simple text: “Fawns nurse. They drink milk from mom” ( Baby Deer). Photographs show newborns and capture the early phases of growth along with behaviors such as napping and eating. Most show the animals in their natural environment, often interacting with family members. In some cases the page design, which uses extensive decorative shapes, limits the size and effectiveness of the photos. Readers never get a full view of a duck’s nest in Baby Duck, for instance, nor a sense of the height of the trees inhabited by pandas in Baby Panda . VERDICT Imperfect, but acceptable choices for early ­nonfiction collections.