Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
A companion to Fiona's Feelings, this board book introduces 10 animals that reside at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden with the famed Fiona: "Fiona the hippo loves to play. Let's meet some of her friends today!" Featuring photographs of each animal, Hutton offers playful, rhyming descriptions: "Elle the gorilla munches a snack. Winsol the aardvark sleeps on his back." Readers will gain a sense of the many different animals and habitats at the zoo. Hutton doesn't offer information about the animals beyond a back-cover description of Fiona's birth and after-care, but the vibrant photos of baby animals, bookended by images of Fiona herself, offer much to love: "Fiona and friends are love-ly, it's true. They're all very special, just like you!" Ages up to 3. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Fiona, the photogenic baby hippo, returns with a menagerie of baby animal friends.Although Fiona's fabulous face graces only the cover and three interior pages of this compact, sturdy board book, the pulchritudinous pachyderm's eponymous friends provide plenty of interest for animal-loving tots and toddlers. Our hippo heroine's youthful playmates represent 10 different species and include a baby rhinoceros, a red panda, a takin (a Himalayan gnu goat), a manatee, a giraffe, a flamingo, an aardvark, a tiger, a cheetah, and a gorilla. As in Fiona's previous board-book outing, Fiona's Feelings,the photographs from the Cincinnati Zoo Botanical Garden's collection are lovingly curated and thoroughly charming. The text is simple, with each animal's name and species in one line of a rhymed couplet: "Fiona the hippo loves to play. / Let's meet some of her friends today! // Kendi the rhino, brave and strong. / Cora the giraffe, twisty and long." It's not Shakespeare, but it should delight youngsters by capitalizing on their natural fascination with exotic fauna. While Fiona is clearly a star in her own right, the other animal babies in this volume are equally irresistible. Few sights can compete with a hairless, newborn aardvark sleeping peacefully against its mother's belly.A winning and wonderful way to foster a child's fascination for wildlife. (Board book. 6 mos.-3) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
