Books in Feels Real Books series

Children stroke kitten's soft fur, feel its rough tongue, and touch its smooth, plastic feeding bowl. The lively Feels Real board books for toddlers are filled with vivid color photos of friendly animals that children love to pet. But Feels Real Books are more than ordinary picture books. Each of them has a different texture patch on every one of its two-page spreads--surfaces for very young boys and girls to touch. Different textures allow kids to experience the touch of animals' fur or skin. When little hands have opportunity to touch and feel, the animals in these books suddenly come to life.

Astounding information about the hornbill, the ostrich, the hummingbird, the umbrella bird and other such feathered oddities, dots the pages of a book that is also a good general introduction to ornithological study. Although the author states at the outset that her Choice of examples will be in the realm of the more unusual birds, the themes of her chapters are generally informative. The origin of birds from reptiles, feather structure, beaks, nests, birds that dance and skip, migration, non-flying birds- these are the subjects that orient and entertain and that have a good chance of making bird watchers out of even the most apathetic, as they begin to realize that even the general run of bird is amazing too.