Review: Platypus and Puggle - Unusual Animals Big and Small

From the author of Llamas with Lemonade - An Unusual Animal ABC, comes another board book introducing toddlers to a very unique collection of animals and their babies. Starting with the tiny jerboa through to a big elephant, each of the highlighted 14 animals is matched with their babies through delightful illustrations and with a simple fact about the animal.

The design of each double page spread remains constant throughout the book. One page has a fact about each animal below a highlighted circle that names the animal and their young in bold font and then is blended into a simple sentence that often includes alliterative text. A clever example of this is the page with wolves. The fact that wolves travel very far in a day looking for food is craftily converted into the alliterative sentence - A wolf and a whelp wander in the forest. Learning the names for the young may be a challenge for both young and old!

The opposite page is then dedicated to the illustration depicting the animal parent and child in an anthropomorphic scenario, which will delight the toddler as they make connections with the relationship and activities they too enjoy. These illustrations include hedgehogs cuddling, crows shopping, and a platypus playing peekaboo with their puggle.

The animals in the book are often not the most well known making this book quite different to the usual books often presented to toddlers. Nevertheless imagining a young child being able to list these unusual animals and their even more unique young will impress many no doubt. Ariana is based in Florida so there are one or two alternate spellings of words but this does not detract from the book at all.

The possible discussions and continued research that this book can inspire would make it ideal for kindergartens and infant grades who are exploring animals and their babies as well comparisons that can be made as the animals increase in size as the book progresses. Using the text to explore alliteration is also another possibility for older children. 

Designed primarily for toddlers in its board book format it is certainly appealing in its format and use of illustrations.

Title: Platypus and Puggle - Unusual Animals Big and Small
Author: Ariana Koultourides
Illustrator: Ariana Koultourides
Publisher: Annick Press , $19.99
Distributor: New South Books
Publication Date: 1 August 2026
Format: Board Book
ISBN: 9781834020808
For ages: 2+
Type: Board Book