Richard Turner (text) and Margaret Tolland (illustration), Whose Nose Do You Suppose? Starfish Bay Publishing, September 2019, 36pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781760360627
Whose Nose Do You Suppose? combines a fun guessing game for young children with interesting information about a variety of animals. Alternate pages present a close-up cropped picture of an animal’s nose, prompting the reader to guess: whose nose do you suppose? The answer is revealed on the following page with a short poem about the animal.
Margaret Tolland’s illustrations of the animals throughout the book are rendered with detail and accuracy. The close-up views of animal noses offer an interesting and different perspective, and even as an adult reader I found some of the noses were quite tricky to identify. The pictures encourage careful viewing and consideration by the reader in terms of what characteristics they show of each animal.
The accompanying short rhymes by Richard Tolland are informative as well as fun to read with their rhythmic pattern. The facts included are descriptive without being too tedious and explain how their bodily features help them to live.
The only drawback of the book I felt was the arrangement of pages. Over a two-page spread there was the animal with poem, then directly next to it a nose from a different animal. I thought this would be distracting to the reader, as rather than pay attention to the information about the animal, they would be tempted to try and guess whose nose was next.
Overall though, a high-quality information book for young readers; introducing them to a variety of animals from across the world in an entertaining format.
Reviewed by Julie Bertola
