WHERE ARE YOU, TEDDY?

This book’s peekaboo-inspired design is charming—and delicate.

This lovely board book gets big points for inventive design and one demerit for its use of flimsy stock for the fold-a-flap elements. Grabby youngsters could quickly deprive Teddy of a limb, or at least of a hiding place. That said, the artwork and design are irresistible, and a well-supervised child should get many rewarding readings out of a copy of this book. The action unfolds, pun intended, in a series of two-page vignettes. Each set piece starts with the titular question. The answers, revealed by unfolding each sequence’s corresponding flaps, include “Here I am,” as Teddy’s arms are folded down to reveal his eyes in classic peekaboo fashion; “Under the umbrella with Daddy”; “Under the covers with Mommy”; “In the box, with all the toys”; and the climactic “Look, I’m right here with you,” as the accompanying flap reveals Teddy holding a mirror to reflect his young readers. There are a few surprises along the way—one stack of blocks conceals not Teddy but a robot friend; Teddy is hiding behind the other stack. Better still, one two-page spread has not one but three flaps to unfold, but Teddy isn’t behind any of them. The call-and-response format encourages vocabulary-building and verbal skills, but late talkers will be delighted as well.

Great fun; potentially brief life span.