Dinosaurs: A Giant Fold-Out Book

These two guessing game books use the successful format from Taback’s earlier titles Safari Animals and City Animals. Well-designed, the nine-inch-square books with board pages have the same structure, starting on the left with a question. Dinosaurs asks, "Who am I?" and provides a clue on the right-hand page: "I have short legs and a thick tail." The page then folds out to reveal another piece of the picture and a second clue: "I have three horns -- two large and one small." The final fold reveals the answer in a gloriously large seventeen-inch square: "I’m a TRICERATOPS!" Dinosaurs explores six different dinos, while Boat Works looks at five kinds of boats and closes with a tricky finish -- the harbor. The books are done in the illustrators’ respective styles: Boat Works is bright and geometric, while Dinosaurs features Taback’s characteristic naive art with thick black lines. Bold and vibrant for sharing with a group but sturdy for small hands, these two make welcome additions to the realm of interactive books. julie roach