Like most kids, both of my daughters adore animals.  But my youngest daughter, Erin, is a real animal nut.  She'll choose a zebra or a cow toy over a princess dress or Barbie doll anyday.  She knows the difference between a baiji (a rare river dolphin) and an okapi (the bizarre horse/zebra cross,) and her favorite question to ask new acquaintances is, "What's your favorite animal?" 

 

When she was a baby, she loved to flip through animal board books just to look at the pictures and learn animal names.  But now that she is a little older (she just turned three), she wants a little more info with each picture.  Still, she's not quite ready for the the technical details — and delicate pages — of the "big kid" animal books.

 

Enter the padded-board book series from Tiger Tales.  Each page is filled with pictures and facts about her favorite animals.  And more importantly, the pages are sturdy enough to hold up to a 3 year old's ... umm ... vigorous reading style.  The book is marketed for the 9-12 reading level, but my six year old, a beginning reader, can read each page with ease.

 

Got a young animal lover in your house?  You can't go wrong with this padded board book series on animals.