West Coast Wild Baby Animals

In West Coast Wild Baby Animals>, author Hodge and illustrator Reczuch introduce toddlers to the young of a combination of 14 different mammals, birds, fish and amphibians. Reczuch’s opening spread clearly establishes the book’s Pacific west coast setting as a father, with a child in a backpack carrier, hikes along a trail while being dwarfed by old forest trees on one side and framed by open water on the other. As can be seen in the above Excerpt, Hodge’s main text consists of a simple sentence which utilizes the appropriate term used for the young of a species accompanied by a verb describing what it is doing. In a smaller font, Hodge also adds a secondary text which more specifically identifies the page’s animal. And so the three wolf pups are each a “Gray wolf” while the fawn is a “Black-tailed deer”. Despite the book’s seemingly regional focus, many of the other young animals, such as bear cubs, eaglets, froglets and hummingbird chicks, can be found in other parts of Canada. Given the book’s intended very young audience, Reczuch’s illustrations could, perhaps, have made more use of adult/young size comparisons. For example, an adult Bald eagle is portrayed feeding its two eaglets, but two Rufous hummingbird chicks raise their beaks above the edge of their nest, a parent nowhere in sight.

When West Coast Wild Babies> readers have outgrown their board book stage, adult caregivers might want to introduce them to Hodge and Karen Reczuch’s more expansive 2020 publication, West Coast Wild Baby Animals (www.cmreviews.ca/node/1650).