Up & Down: A Lift-the-Flap Book

A penguin’s journey to reunite with his friend supplies the premise behind this understated and elegantly designed interactive introduction to antonyms. The use of large, well-integrated flaps creates a satisfying sense of motion as readers help Little Penguin travel through the green-blue water past bloblike ocean flora and a variety of fauna, flecked with grainy or marbled patterns (“He swam above a bobbing jellyfish... and below a tickly octopus. He swam over an orca’s tail... then under its belly”). Sweeping blues and grays emphasize the vastness of the water keeping the friends apart, making their eventual reunion especially tender. Ages 2–5. (Oct.)