Summer Reading 2017 If I Were a Kangaroo

Fans of Margaret Wise Brown's The Runaway Bunny will feel right at home in this story. A mother tucking her child in for the night tells what she would do if she were various animals at that time of night. A kangaroo would pop her baby in her pocket, while a mother bat would just be waking up to find her baby some dinner. The animals vary from domesticated to wild, land creatures to sea denizens, and something as tiny as spiders to tall giraffes. The habitat and habits of the different animals are reflected in the text and the illustrations.

I should point out that the illustrations are drawings in pen or pencil and some digital coloring combined with ink washes that give each scene a softness perfect for a bedtime story. Also, the spread showing the mother giraffe and her calf is laid out so that readers must turn the book sideways to view it, a clever touch which emphasizes the height of the giraffe. The back matter, titled "Sleepy Animal Notes," has a paragraph on each animal along with another illustration of the mother and young one(s). Animal lovers will enjoy learning that sea otters use kelp to keep their babies from floating away or that squirrels use their tails as blankets or umbrellas.

Great for bedtimes, nap times, or any other quiet story times.