Jazzy in the Jungle

Jazzy in the Jungle
by Lucy Cousins
32 pages; ages 2-5
Candlewick Press, 2013

Theme: family,animals

Mama Jo Jo and Baby Jazzy are playing hide-and-seek in the jungle.

"Where are you, Baby Jazzy?"

The anteater doesn't see Jazzy. Neither do the snake and the bird. Maybe Jazzy is over by the Tum Tum trees... So mama lemur searches over there.

What I like: The bold illustrations and die-cut pages produce a multi-layered jungle. There are tall trees and understory plants. Then there are all of the animals that help Mama Jo Jo find Jazzy. They remind me of animals I drew when I was a kid - and now I really want a huge piece of manilla art paper and a set of fat crayons so I can draw some jungle scenes, too. Because it's hide-and-seek, we know Jazzy isn't lost... just hiding.

Beyond the Book activities: We all need more play in our lives, so instigate a game of hide-and-seek! You can take turns hiding, or hide a stuffed animal and give clues to where it might be hiding.

Make a frog puppet. Frogs of all types live in the rainforest jungle, and all you need for a frog puppet is a paper plate, some paper and paint. Here are the directions for making the puppet, and here are frog photos in case you want to make yours look like a real rainforest frog.

Today's review is part of PPBF (perfect picture book Friday), an event in which bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's site. She keeps an ever-growing list of Perfect Picture Books. Review copy provided by publisher.