Across the Board Fun

New and treasured titles are released in toddler-sized board formats. Perfect for smallest hands to hold, Denise Fleming's The Everything Book may have been edited to fit a board book format, but there is still plenty of "everything" here. PW said in a starred review, "Exuberant spreads teeming with brightly hued animals, plants, objects and children introduce numbers, colors, the alphabet, body parts and seasons. Fleming is at the top of her game." (Holt, $6.95 26p ages 1-4 ISBN 0-8050-7709-X; Aug.)

Sliding panels add fun to the concept of 1, 2, 3 in Animal Count by Salina Yoon. The sturdy corrugated pages feature windows that ease across the picture to reveal hidden animals, as the poem counts to 10: "I see three turtles on the farm./ Add one more and you get four." Opposite the sliding panel, all the cheery, pastel-hued animals from previous pages congregate. (S&S/Little Simon, $6.99 12p ages 1-4 ISBN 0-689-86185-0; Aug.)

In time for a trip to the orchard, the appropriately-shaped Apples, Apples by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld, illus. by Christopher Santoro, follows a family of bears as they pick fruit and enjoy a feast of apple-based delights. "Apple cider warm and spicy,/ apples sweet to crunch./ And just for today—oh, lovely day—/ apple doughnuts with our lunch." Santoro's illustrations are as warm and sugary as the cobblers and pies. (HarperFestival, $5.99 20p ages 6 mos.-3 yrs. ISBN 0-06-053787-6; Aug.)

Joining the likes of Busy Monkeys, this latest in a series of animals at play, Busy Kitties by John Schindel, photos by Sean Franzen, features vivid, full-bleed photos of tousled tabbies and curious calicos alongside rhymed text: "Kitty running/ Kitty sunning/ Kitty whining/ Kitty dining." (Tricycle, $6.95 20p ages 1-3 ISBN 1-58246-130-9; Aug.)

Pages of Interactive Play

A bounty of books encourage activity. For infants who can't wait to get hold of the phone, Hello? Hello? gets newborns in on the action with this squishy, jingle-y, phone-shaped cloth book. Each cuddly page shows a different baby animal on a play phone with a parent, riffing on the same theme: "Hello? Hello?/ Oink! Oink!/ Hello, Pig." (Scholastic/Cartwheel, $12.95 4p ages 6 mos.-up ISBN 0-439-62158-5; July)

A pair of accordion-fold, cardstock books by Caroline Arnold helps youngsters understand size and numbers. Who Is Bigger? Who Is Smaller? shows farm animals of ascending sizes on one side, then their descending sizes on the other, from a mouse to a horse and back again. Who Has More? Who Has Fewer? adds a fun wrinkle: each bird pictured has one more egg than the previous; on the book's reverse, the number of baby birds, now hatched (from the eggs on the flip side), decreases. (Charlesbridge, $5.95 each 18p ages 6 mos.-3 yrs. ISBN 1-57091-495-8; 1-57091-493-1; July)

Evoking the look, texture and somehow even the aroma of a bygone century, Alphabet Flash Cards, illus. by Beth Nelson, boasts 26 cardboard retro-stylish cards, packaged in a sturdy box. The front of the cards feature pictures and names ("envelope," "kick" and "whistle," among others) written in all caps; the flip side reinforces the letter that begins each word. Children can thus learn the relationship between a word's first letter and the word itself. (Chronicle, $14.95 26 cards ISBN 0-8118-4394-7; Aug.)

With brandished cutlasses and bandannas aplenty, the gang seeks doubloons in the oversize board book Maisy's Pirate Treasure Hunt by Lucy Cousins. Myriad flaps on each page invite readers to look for three keys to open a treasure chest. The backs of the flaps feature illustrations that match with the larger picture when folded back—a toucan flies out from a palm tree's branches, and a centipede crawls out of a cave. (Candlewick, $10.99 12p ages 2-5 ISBN 0-7636-2469-1; July)

D Is for Doodle by Deborah Zemke uses the alphabet itself for inspiration in doodling and sketching. This spiralbound paperback demonstrates how to make cartoons utilizing simple lines, squiggles and curlicues added to capital and lowercase letters. Inventive doodles include a lion with a "leaning L" for a gaping mouth as well as a swoopy skateboarder whose body is based on a curvy "S." (Blue Apple [Chronicle, dist.], $11.95 64p ages 8-11 ISBN 1-59354-029-9; July)

Speaking of squiggles, Tedd Arnold brings a campy song to life in Catalina Magdalena Hoopensteiner Wallendiner Hogan Logan Bogan Was Her Name; the nose-picking heroine's large, plastic "googley" eyes protrude from the cover. Arnold's wry take on the campfire favorite is that Miss Bogan, who could be considered freakish ("She had two eyes that were quite a sight;/ One looked left and the other looked right"), is instead cheered on by family and friends who adore her oddities. (Scholastic/Cartwheel, $10.95 40p ages 4-8 ISBN 0-590-10994-4; July)

Pictures Worth 1,000 Words

Aspiring writers and artists may enjoy Anne Elizabeth's Diary: A Young Artist's True Story by Anne Elizabeth Rector, compiled by Kathleen Krull, which relates a year of diary entries by the girl who would become a famous artist. The elegantly designed paper-over-board volume provides an ideal presentation for Rector's brief, delicately illustrated entries with a fine line and watercolor wash. Her jottings reveal an early passion for drawing, plus her observations on women's status and trepidation about pursuing a career as an artist. (Little, Brown/Tingley, $16.95 64p ages 8-12 ISBN 0-316-07204-4; July)

The paper-over-board Asterix and the Class Act by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo, trans. by Anthea Bell and Derek Hockridge, collects 14 "all-new" comic tales of the titular Gallic warrior never before published, alongside others that appeared separately from the 1960s to the present. Some fun historical tidbits: a 1986 comic, "The Lutetia Olympics," was printed to bolster Paris's bid for the 1992 games, while "Chanticleerix," (2003, published for the first time here), details an avian battle of symbolic proportions between the Gaulish rooster and the Roman eagle. Fans of these smart works should be kept in hysterix. (Orion [Sterling, dist.], $12.95 56p all ages ISBN 0-75286-068-2; July)

Facts Unlimited

Kids who can't get enough information will appreciate these new companions. Perennially updated, The World Almanac for Kids 2005 teems with information on a global scale, in the categories of arts, sciences, athletics, government, mythology and more. Photos and facts about current pop-culture faves, news and election coverage as well as games and puzzles appear in an inviting design with blocks of text arranged by theme. (World Almanac Books, $11.95 paper 336p ISBN 0-88687-929-9; July)

Having explored prehistory in Asia with Feathered Dinosaurs of China, Gregory Wenzel now turns to the American West in Giant Dinosaurs of the Jurassic. This volume focuses on remains found near Morrison, Colo., reconstructing the lives of the local dinos, including Stegosaurus, Brachiosaurus and less recognizable creatures. Meticulous acrylics and a pronunciation guide round out this straightforward, appealing offering. (Charlesbridge, $16.95 32p ages 7-12 ISBN 1-57091-563-6; paper $6.95 ISBN 1-57091-564-4; July)

An addition to the Math Adventure series, What's Your Angle, Pythagoras? by Julie Ellis, illus. by Phyllis Hornung, tells a fictional tale of the future Greek philosopher and mathematician. Ellis characterizes Pythagoras as a boy always underfoot, trying to help solve problems for his family and neighbors. A trip to Egypt and a chance encounter with a builder inspire him to think about right angles in new ways—and he devises the theory that bears his name today. (Charlesbridge, $16.95 32p ages 7-12 ISBN 1-57091-197-5; paper $6.95 ISBN 1-57091-150-9; July)

Teen, Heal Thyself

New titles offer tips, quizzes and info to help teenagers examine their lives and habits. A pair of CosmoGIRL! Quiz Books tell All About You and All About Guys by offering multiple-choice answers to questions such as "Are You a Bore?" (in All About You) or "Is it Love or Lust?" (in Guys). Among the smart-alecky options to a question about "the last time you and your boyfriend hung out": "a few nights ago" or "he's rubbing my shoulders while I take this quiz." Visual appeal comes from pages of full-bleed photos of good-looking teens appearing effortlessly attractive and content. (Sterling/Hearst, $5.95 paper each 112p ages 12-17 ISBN 0-58816-381-4; 0-58816-382-2; Aug.)

Teenage capitalists may want to cash in on Rich Dad, Poor Dad for Teens: The Secrets About Money—That You Don't Learn in School! by Robert Kiyosaki, with Sharon Lechter. Pitching the ideas from his adult bestseller Rich Dad, Poor Dad to a younger crowd, Kiyosaki recounts his youth and explains the origins of the book's title by contrasting his own "poor" father with his best friend's entrepreneurial "rich" father. "My dad seemed comfortable with his decision to be a 'have-not,' but I knew that I wasn't." Kiyosaki encourages teenagers to analyze their learning style, offers moneymaking ideas and describes debt-related pitfalls. (Little, Brown, $14.99 paper 106p ages 12-up ISBN 0-446-69321-9; Aug.)