Spot a Lot Animal Escape has been a huge hit with Tiddler – it’s probably our favourite Parragon book so far.  In fact, as soon as I sat down to try and write this review he saw the book and said “Now mum, I like this book, can you read it to me?”  So I’d better stop writing for a minute and do just that…

…I don’t think he’ll ever tire of it.  We’ve been reading it several times a day and he’s just asked “Can I take it into Preschool? It’s so good!”

In this story, the animals have escaped from the zoo and the reader follows the zookeeper as she searches for them all throughout the rest of the book.  On one level it is a simple counting book, with the main text line taking us from “1 very tall giraffe trying hard not to laugh” to “10 warthogs tapping feet dancing to a hip-hop beat!”  Within the illustrations, though, there is much more to find.  There is a tortoise to search for on every double page spread, and in addition there are instructions to look for extra animals, such as “Spot 3 green lizards” and “Where is the hippo hiding?”

We’ve had many counting books over the years, and plenty of books with hidden things to spot too, and I think this is one of the very best.  In some cases they can become a bit tedious, but not this one.  It has just the right number – and difficulty – of things to find, the text is fun to read aloud and the illustrations are excellent.  Having read it to Tiddler at least once a day for a couple of weeks, and sometimes to Rabbit separately, I’m happy to report that I haven’t got bored of it yet!

We received this book free of charge for the purpose of this review.