Early Book Review: Legs by Sarah J. Dodd, Giusi Capizzi

Legs: The Tale of a Verry Small Meerkat is a picture book written by Sarah J. Dodd and illustrated by Giusi Capizzi. It is currently scheduled for release on August 21 2015.  Miki is a baby meerkat who lives with his Mama in a zoo. He's happy at home with Mama and the kind keeper who cares for them, but soon he becomes curious about the wider world. The one day Miki ventures a bit too far out into the world, and he's not sure where he is anymore. Who do all these legs belong to? Soon the legs turn from animal legs to people legs - Miki really has gone too far! But just when Miki feels completely lost, there are the keepers familiar booted legs, and here's the keeper to bring him home; and from his vantage point in the keepers arms all the legs that seemed so intimidating on the way out are revealed to have friendly, happy faces with them!

Legs is a look at the life of a meerkat in a zoo, and at what childhood is often like. We, um vertically challenged, adults can still empathize with the feeling of being too small in the world to see the big picture, but many adults forget the feeling of seeing the world from a lower height. Young children will relate to Miki in both seeing the world only as legs as well as his desire to explore and see more. They will also understand the fear and anxiety of getting lost when never really meaning to stay so far. I think this is a great book for helping children understand that they are not alone, and the importance of not just wandering off to explore the world. The illustrations are very cute and draw the reader into Miki’s world while entertaining readers of all ages. 

I really enjoyed Legs, sand think my adventurous and animal mad children will enjoy it as well. This would make a great addition to library, preschool, and home collections.

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