Whose Footprint Is THAT?
by Darrin Lunde; illus. by Kelsey Oseid
Preschool, Primary    Charlesbridge    32 pp.
10/19    978-1-58089-834-8    $16.99
e-book ed.  978-1-63289-721-3    $9.99

Following the format of Whose Poop Is THAT? (rev. 3/17), Lunde poses the title question seven times about seven different animals in a series of four-page sequences, inviting readers to guess the makers of various footprints and impressions. Each print, rendered in shades of black and brown on a white background, is centered prominently on the right-hand page. A clue for identification comes via the accompanying text, which emphasizes the motions or actions employed to produce the print (“It was made by running on snow”; “It was made by standing in soft mud”). Additional hints to each creature’s identity are found on left-hand pages, with glimpses of an ear, tail, nose, etc., edging into the picture. For the reveal, illustrations of mountain goats, wallaroos, snowshoe hares, snakes, flamingos, chimpanzees, and even a dinosaur are accompanied by information about what part of them made the prints (variously: feet, bodies, knuckles) and the ways their physiologies allow the animals to move or balance; the seven examples are carefully chosen to represent the relationships between morphology and function. The book ends with a look at the various prints people can make with their footwear, connecting familiar human experiences with their animal equivalents.

From the January/February 2020 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.