CURIOUS ENCOUNTERS

Wordplay abounds, as evidenced by the title’s “EnCOUNTers,” in this counting book featuring anthropomorphic creatures in the wild.

Readers count up to 13 with affable animal groups, from one moose to 13 sea gulls. In short sentences, heavy on alliteration, they learn that each group is up to something (a “moose mak[es] a movie”; “bears bik[e] by the bay”; and “seals [go] surfing”). The animals’ speech-balloon dialogue consists of silly wordplay; most of it involves playing with the sounds of English. The moose, for instance, declares its movie is a “moose-ical,” and a young fort-making deer announces it’s “really fawn-d” of its creation. The lively, playful illustrations move the action along as if it takes place on a wide stage. A new animal group appears to the right of the previous one at each page turn. Whatever readers see on the far right of the recto appears on the next spread’s verso: A discarded bottle of cider in the right corner of a spread with two raccoons appears as the centerpiece of the next one, as slugs feast on its contents. The story comes full circle with a black-haired, beige-skinned child who, unseen by the animals, watches the tomfoolery from behind foliage. Despite the inclusion of “Forest Friends” in the subtitle, readers also follow animals to the bay, where they meet groups of otters, orcas, seals, and sea gulls.

Goofy fun with wordplay. You can count on it.