The Mummy Animal Book

by Jennifer Cossins

reviewed by Mia Macrossan

Jennifer Cossins has written the popular 101 Collective Nouns, A Flamboyance of Flamingos and The Baby Animal Book and now in The Mummy Animal Book she focuses on mothers and their offspring.

She has chosen 14 familiar animals, both domestic and wild, from a range of continents and habitats so everyone everywhere will find an animal they know.

The book is the right size to fit in little hands and both design and layout are simple, thoughtful and appealing to its target audience.

Each double page spread has  an illustration of mother and offspring in a typical pose on the right and on the left is a giant speech bubble with two or three sentences describing what you see. Her last sentence is always informative, telling you an interesting and possible unfamiliar fact.

For example:

A mummy cat is called a queen.

A baby cat is called a kitten.

A kitten’s eyes are always blue at first, but usually change colour later.

The important words in this text: mummy, cat, queen, baby, and kitten are coloured in a different font that matches the overall colour scheme of that particular page.

All these carefully considered details combine to create an a picture book notable for its quiet and beguiling charm. Ideal for stimulating inquiring minds. There is also a  Daddy Animal Book which I look forward to reading.

Hachette Australia 2020 Hardback  Picture Book $9.99 ISBN 9780734419897