Each spread in this wordless book features one silhouetted animal with an increasing number of babies, from one lamb to five ducklings.
"Who are they?" the title asks, and the illustrations answer with sharp, silhouetted animals, classic in their simplicity and realistic depiction. There isn't anything cutesy, abstract, or anthropomorphized about these familiar shapes, which makes the illustrations perfect for children just learning their animals. Each spread is uncluttered, featuring only the black animals against a cream background and creating a perfect backdrop for plenty of interactions with the illustrations. While this might not be suited to a larger storytime, due to the lack of text, it would be a fantastic interactive book with a child or two. The sharp contrasts make it well-suited to babies, and preschoolers could use it to practice counting - or "read" it to a younger sibling.
Who Are They? by Tana Hoban is a wordless board book with outlines of five different silhouetted animals and their babies.
Hoban's black and white animal outlines offer the perfect sharp contrast that will attract the attention of babies, toddlers and preschoolers. Sheep and lamb, pig and 2 piglets, dog (dachshund) and 3 puppies, cat and 4 kittens, and duck and 5 ducklings are pictured on double page spreads. Each baby is shown in a slightly differnt pose. This simple presentation invites counting, practice with animals and baby animal names, making animal sounds, and language development. This is highly recommended for preschool and public library collections.
For ages 0.5 to 4, animals, animal babies, wordless, counting, board book, and fans of Tana Hoban.
This is my daughter's first favorite book. She has seen other black and white books, but this one seems to hold her interest longest. She can stare at the dachshund picture endlessly. It calms her when she is fussy. She also enjoys the ducks, but is less interested in the sheep and pig. The dachshund continues to please her every time.
A wordless book of silhouettes really provided a unique opportunity for me and my newborn to challenge ourselves to really explore these characters, not just in the narrative but as an exercise in empathy and self reflection.
My newborn seemed disinterested and fussy as we read this at 1 in the morning while preparing for an upcoming meal, but I think that’s the point of good art. To challenge you and make you sit in this discomfort and I think this book can do that for you, but the household is mixed so maybe this book is polarizing. Maybe we will revisit next year.