Where’s Baby?

Anne Hunter’s Where’s Baby? is a hide-and-seek story that introduces prepositions through the tale of Papa Fox’s looking for Baby Fox who is always lurking somewhere in the background out of Papa Fox’s sight. The story begins with Papa Fox asking Mama Fox if she has seen Baby Fox, and she gives him a roundabout answer which leads Papa Fox on a walkabout looking for Baby Fox. After Papa Fox searches everywhere to no avail, the story returns full circle to Mama Fox who asks if Papa Fox has looked behind him in his quest to find Baby Fox.

There is a humorous undertone to the story because Mama Fox can see that Baby Fox is behind Papa Fox, but she does not tell him. And so Papa Fox goes searching for Baby Fox in all kinds of places, like “up” trees, “in” dens, “under” water, and “over” hills.

The illustrations are carefully drawn with ballpoint pen and coloured with pencil crayons with an added touch of hand-lettered text. Hunter uses cool colour tones of baby blue, black and white, with Baby Fox being orange so he stands out on every page and can be easily spotted.

Overall, Where’s Baby? is a beautifully illustrated hide-and-seek book for preschool aged children who want a light, playful read. And the two page spreads invite readers to search for Baby Fox within each scene and giggle at how Papa Fox is just looking in all the wrong places for Baby Fox!