Little Faces: Meet Happy Bear

Review also includes:

Little Faces: Don’t Wake the Tiger, 978-1848692756

Ingenious paper-engineering, described by the publisher as venetian movements, change the faces and expressions of a group of friendly-looking animals in these sturdy and attractive books for the very young.

Little Mouse works hard to keep Bear smiling, capering about so that instead of being sad, anxious, and angry, he becomes happy again. Every other page turn changes the expression on Bear’s face via the venetian movement, and it is endlessly entertaining. There are lots of opportunities to talk about feelings, and lots to look at too in Carles Ballesteros’s bright clean illustrations.

In Don’t Wake the Tiger, a cheeky monkey accompanies readers, warning them when they’ve woken a sleeping animal and encouraging them to quickly turn the page. Again, the act of turning the page cleverly changes the animal’s face, opening their eyes. The stories are satisfyingly circular, so that it’s almost impossible when you’ve reached the end not to start all over again. Clever, stylish and offering lovely learning experiences, these two books have all the hallmarks of new list Words & Pictures.