Maisy goes to London

Maisy and her friends arrive in London and take in the sights. Traveling by bus, water taxi, and subway, they enjoy Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, and a public park in addition to visiting the National Gallery, the Tower of London, and the Aquarium. They also walk by Buckingham Palace and the Houses of Parliament. It's a very full day! The illustrations feature large, iconic landmarks as well as the active, dressed-animal characters, but the book's large format gives Cousins plenty of space to lay out the pictures, which are varied in composition and scale. Painted in gouache, the pictures outline figures and other visual elements in black lines and fill in the rest with many colors. The overall effect is jaunty and eye-catching. The text points out a feature or two on each page, but leaves plenty of details for kids to notice for themselves. Parents planning to take young children to London will appreciate this colorful picture book for its amiable cast of familiar characters and hit-the-high-spots approach to sightseeing.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2016 Booklist

Maisy the mouse and her pals visit London. They ride a double-decker bus, admire the lights in Piccadilly Circus, pose on a stone lion in Trafalgar Square, pass Buckingham Palace, walk along the Thames, stop in at the Tower of London, take a ride on the Underground, and more. At each stop, shutterbug Maisy takes a picture, and her captioned photographs appear on the rear endpapers. (Except for the one of all the friends together taken by a kind penguin bobby, every single snapshot is endearingly off-kilter.) In this whirlwind tour of London, Cousins makes a few odd choices. While all the sights the friends visit are standard tourist destinations, it's a little peculiar that in this book for toddlers and preschoolers the protagonists hang out in the National Gallery rather than take a spin on the London Eye, for instance. Though the latter attraction is depicted in one scene, the emphasis is on culture and education rather than strict entertainment. Tots introduced to London through this book as preparation for a family visit will recognize the ravens and the Beefeaters but will be unprepared for the blood-soaked history of the Tower of London said Beefeaters cheerily unfold. As a visit with Maisy goes, it's a typically colorful day, but readers should be aware they'll have to mind the gaps. (Picture book. 2-5) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.