Mother fox loves her cub even when he's angry or wild (Love); cartoon illustrations display a cat's dramatic imaginings when its book goes missing (Bear); a frog invites animals to dance with him in "the cool of the pool" (Down). New to these editions are intrusive discussion prompts and appended "creative activities" to help parents "engage with your little one."

PreS-Gr 1 This reassuring story centers on a spirited, young bushy-tailed fox whose patient mother loves him no matter what he does or how he feels. Whether he's happily eating cookies, dancing silly dances, mourning a broken toy, or refusing to brush his teeth, mother fox's love is unconditional. McPhail's illustrations feature muted colors and lots of white space. There's a round softness that matches the comforting rhyming text. This series installment focuses on developing school readiness skills through prompts and activities. Each title in the series highlights a different abilityin this case, emotions. Extension activities, found on the final endpapers, include discussion questions to encourage children to express their emotions; a version of Simon Says; a rather lackluster list of words to search, find, and count; and a drawing prompt. Throughout the book, short dialogic reading prompts are printed in page corners, asking readers to discuss the story, use their imagination, make narrative predictions, and look for objects in the illustrations. There are a large number of prompts, enough for several readings, which makes up for the few that are rather forced. For instance, "Fox and Lamb are having a playdate! Do you know which animal is which?" Although children's librarians are already familiar with these types of dialogic reading questions, many caregivers will find the modeling helpful. VERDICT A satisfying story and plenty of dialogic reading prompts for caregivers make this an excellent choice for a themed kit or toddler-preschool giveaway. Amy Seto Forrester, Denver Public Library