Cycle City
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Little Etta Elephant always loves visiting her aunt. Aunt Ellen lives in a very special place called Cycle City. Tonight's the Starlight Parade, but the invitations haven't been sent out yet! Luckily, Mayoir Snail is on the job. And maybe Etta can lend a hand.
This colourful, absorbing hardback is full of tiny but witty intimate scenes of the animal residents of Cycle City. It's also a seek-and-find tour of this town, where everyone is on wheels: pigs, elephants, snails and polar bears!
The story is fairly minimal but the the real focus lies in the lively, detail-rich illustrations. Children will love the written prompts to search for some of the characters. Can you find Etta Elephant? Can you see the Bunny family? Trying to spot these animals on the page falls just on the right side of tricky, without being too hard for teeny, distracted eyes.
Cycle City is also a big celebration of bicycles, in all of their motley glory. This really comes across in the brilliant endpapers: a visual glossary of all different kinds of bikes, from folding to unicycle.