A pair of simple, pleasing concept books feature beautiful, digitally rendered illustrations on heavy, foldout pages. In Animal 1 2 3 , the foldouts are each number in turn from one to nine, with ten being the final reveal. Each page spread features a different animal and emphasizes two consecutive numbers. So “2 marching elephants” features two elephants trunk to tail and a large number “2” that folds out to reveal a third elephant holding onto the second, and the phrase “3 marching elephants.” The next page begins with “3 tall giraffes,” with the number “3” unfolding to reveal a fourth giraffe and “4 tall giraffes,” and so on. In Animal Spots and Stripes , there is one trait emphasized at first glance on each page with the foldout revealing an example of the other trait. So “striped tigers” are paired with “spotted leopard,” “spotted fish” with “striped worm,” and so on. The uncluttered illustrations are a perfect balance of realism and whimsy. (Ages 2–4)