Who Is New At The Zoo? Zoo Borns by Andrew Bleimin and Chris Eastwood

THEY CALL ME RADAR EARS, AND I'M A FENNEC FOX.

MY BIG EARS HELP ME HEAR YUMMY INSECTS CRAWLING IN THE SAND.

LISTEN! DID YOU HEAR THAT?

In Andrew Bleimen's and Chris Eastland's new ZooBorns!: Zoo Babies from Around the World (Beach Lane Books, 2010), zoo-born newborns are shown in full-page headshots in all their infant beauty. There are the usual little ones, Beco the Asian elephant, Kai and Darga, baby Bengals, and Rooby, the little kangaroo joey, with all their baby charm caught in appealing close-up color photographs.

And then there are more exotic babies--Amani the ocelot, Susa, the banded mongoose, Tahina, the crowned sifaka, Matari, the wombat, Bella the Beluga whale, and even a baby okapi, Kalispell, who manages to look quite cute despite his unabashed self-description:

WHAT DO YOU GET WHEN YOU ADD A ZEBRA'S LEGS TO A GIRAFFE'S BODY--AND THROW IN A LONG, BLUE TONGUE?

ME!

ZooBorns!: Zoo Babies from Around the World (Beach Lane, 2010) is a surefire winner for the early childhood zoo lover, with fascinating photos of baby animals and just enough information about each in the short, snappy text to stick in the memories of listeners. Appended are silhouettes of each animal with a short description of its habits, behavior, and habitat, coded as well to show whether the animal's conservation status is critically endangered, endangered, near-threatened, or of least concern. A must-have for the preschool animal bookshelf!