I WILL EAT YOU!

The title does duty as both theme and refrain in this simple introduction to food chains.

Rotated 90 degrees and read top to bottom, each spread opens with a simply rendered seascape, woodland, pine forest, or other natural setting in which sharp-eyed viewers are challenged to spot subtle signs of a set of predators and prey. The first such pair appears atop two accordion-creased gatefolds with the predator declaring the titular intention, “I will eat you!” on one side An identifying transition such as “said the caterpillar to the apple, but…” or “said the turtle to the algae, but…” appears on the other. The gatefolds open out to reveal two or three larger predators lined up to swoop in, presumably in turn repeating “I will eat you!”—but it leaves that secondary line marooned on the page unaltered. The natural tendency to reread it will likely cause both young viewers and adult readers to stumble. Who are all these new and unlabeled arrivals? Definitely not more caterpillars and apples. Moreover, when labels do finally show up on a pictorial cast list at the end, some are low-bar generalities such as “Little fish” or “Little bird" rather than specific names.

A toddler-level alternative to Leo Lionni’s classic Swimmy or Andy Mansfield and Henning Löhlein’s Fish Food (2015) that’s marred by flawed design. (Informational novelty. 2-5)