MAISY GOES TO LONDON

Maisy the mouse and her pals visit London.

They ride a double-decker bus, admire the lights in Piccadilly Circus, pose on a stone lion in Trafalgar Square, pass Buckingham Palace, walk along the Thames, stop in at the Tower of London, take a ride on the Underground, and more. At each stop, shutterbug Maisy takes a picture, and her captioned photographs appear on the rear endpapers. (Except for the one of all the friends together taken by a kind penguin bobby, every single snapshot is endearingly off-kilter.) In this whirlwind tour of London, Cousins makes a few odd choices. While all the sights the friends visit are standard tourist destinations, it’s a little peculiar that in this book for toddlers and preschoolers the protagonists hang out in the National Gallery rather than take a spin on the London Eye, for instance. Though the latter attraction is depicted in one scene, the emphasis is on culture and education rather than strict entertainment. Tots introduced to London through this book as preparation for a family visit will recognize the ravens and the Beefeaters but will be unprepared for the blood-soaked history of the Tower of London said Beefeaters cheerily unfold.

As a visit with Maisy goes, it’s a typically colorful day, but readers should be aware they’ll have to mind the gaps