Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews

Who is Smiling?

Who is Smiling?

Yusuke Yonezu
Novelty Board Book
For ages 2 to 4
minedition, 2016   ISBN: 978-9888341030

Guessing games are very popular with little children, perhaps because they love surprises so much. After all, when you are playing such a game, surprises are inevitable. The creator of this novelty book manages to turn simple little drawings, and die-cut spaces in the pages, into a wonderful guessing adventure that little children will enjoy exploring.

Our bookish guessing adventure begins on the cover - how often does that happen? We see a smiling face through a die-cut circle and the title asks us “Who is smiling?” When we open the book we find out the smile we saw belongs to a monkey. On the next spread we see a smile through a die-cut oval and we are asked “Who is happy?” When we turn the page we see a happy fish and a frog.

Children are going to really enjoy trying to guess what they are going to see next when they turn the pages in this book. They will through at the holes in the pages and try to image what they are going to find when they turn the page. Sometimes they are given little clues, but at other times what they see is challenging to identify.

This in one in a series of interactive novelty books created by Yusuke Yonezu. The books give little children the opportunity to play guessing games to their heart’s content.