Peek-A Who?

I got this book for my 12 month old daughter and she absolutely loves it. She picks it up throughout the day to play with. She likes being able to turn the pages to see what the picture really is. On the zoo page we take the time to point to and name all of the animals. The book is simple and sweet and just the right length for her attention span.

I ordered this for my 20 month old and it's his favorate book! Well, a tossup between that and "Silly Faces in the Ocean" I was a little dissapointed with the size of the book though. It was a 4-for-3 sale book. I really wish Amazon included book dimensions in their descriptions. Anyway, I guess it's just the right size for him. He laughs at the ending every time.
"Peeka ... YOU"
And there's a little mirror on the last page

In looking for another whimsical, creative, offbeat baby book like Pat the Bunny (from the book within the book: "How big is bunny? Soooooooo big.") I found that this title and two Boynton books were purchased on Amazon by people who bought Pat. Because of the connection with Pat I was expecting something more than just five peek-a-s and I also expected that every image would be tied together in a story.

The peek-a-s are as follows: Owl/Who, Cow/Moo, Ghost/Boo, Animals/Zoo, Train/Choo-Choo, and the predictable You. The cutouts through which you see part of the full image are the same rotated peanut shape on every page.

I would have expected the partial views at least to contain multiple interesting hints about the uncovered image that encourage the baby to think. Only the Zoo page really has anything approaching that (leaves and animal designs...but in that image the partial view of the giraffe looks like a quilt so it may be more confusing than helpful). It would have been nice if the cutout shapes had some relation to the images behind them.

I know that you didn't ask but in my opinion the four- and five-star baby books should have some or all of the following elements: (1) little visual details that the baby can gradually notice after repeated readings (plentiful, for example, in Big Red Barn), (2) an actual story about something in the real world, perhaps repeated in a few different ways (as in Bear Hunt) or with different types of characters (as in More, More, More Said the Baby) or even just an underlying structure that can be learned along with individually engaging images (like in ABC Kids or 100 First Words), (3) interactivity that involves the baby in more than one action (as in Pat the Bunny or the color/object books with things to feel or move), (4) creative or whimsical elements that aren't in any of the hundreds of other books the baby will read (like in Pat or the Very Hungry Caterpillar), (5) a style (story or images) that has become archetypal and hasn't been ripped off or repeated by everyone else (any of the above), (6) Lyrical text (Brown Bear or Bear Hunt), (7) a story with an enlightening theme that isn't sappy or preachy (like What Daddies Do Best).

I gave this as many as two stars because baby's mom says that it will help her practice similar-sounding words.

She loves the holes in the book and the surprise at the end! (her image in the mirror) it is her current favorite. Peek a boo is an often used phrase for her right now and her favorite game, so using different words for "boo" is super funny to her!

This book is just okay. The pictures are cute and vivid which I like, but it's very simplistic and VERY short. My kids (3 years and 18 months) just aren't all that excited by it. It's a fine book, but I'm surprised by all the 5 star ratings. Expectations were set a bit high, I guess.