Five little leprechauns

Toddler-PreS--A playful and festive board book twist on the classic nursery rhyme "Five Little Monkeys," just in time for St. Patrick's Day. In this rhythmic romp, impish leprechauns play a mischievous game of hide and seek. They hide from Mama in the glen, in the clover, in a rainbow, and elsewhere, inevitably incurring bumps and bruises one after another. Mama repeatedly calls the doctor, who chastises them in the old familiar way: "No more leprechauns hiding in the…!" Finally, only one lonely little leprechaun is left, with a pot of gold and nobody to share it with. All is well, however, when the doctor insists that Mama reunite the leprechauns so that they may hide their treasure together. It's unclear how the game of hide and seek ended in the discovery of a pot of gold; or if, perhaps, that was the objective all along. All five little leprechauns present as white with orange hair, and at least one is cued female. Colorful pages burst with greens and golds, and the little leprechauns' cartoonish features are joyous and lively. The familiar rhyming cadence of the original nursery rhyme persists throughout, though it is somewhat clunky in places. VERDICT Little ones and their grown ups will delight in chanting this fun-filled twist on the classic nursery rhyme together long after the holiday festivities have ended.--Allison Staley