Baby Cheetahs

April 1, 2015

K-Gr 2-The "Aw" factor is big in these introductions to the adorable young of popular warm-blooded animals. Three simple chapters with no more than two sentences per spread describe what these creatures eat, how they learn and play, and how their mothers care for them. The books don't indicate which specific species or subspecies are depicted in photographs, and only Orangutan references habitat. Each title opens with the appropriate term for the baby in question-owlet for owls, infant for gorillas and orangutans-and ends with an exclamatory sentence related to the action on the page ("Time to run!"). Vocabulary isn't minced; terms include ambush, pounce, camouflage, and mantle. Loaded with kid appeal, photographs fill the entire spread and are carefully aligned to avoid the gutter. The simple text is overlaid in a brightly outlined box on the verso. VERDICT These charming titles will tumble off the shelf into the hands of eager animal lovers.

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