Midwest Book Review , November 2002
With a very simple and "reader friendly" text by Dia L. Michels, Look What I See! Where Can I Be? With My Animal Friends is an ideal picture book for young children just learning how to read. Simple sentences, enhanced with gorgeous color photographs of beautiful creatures by Michael J. N. Bowles, ending with a happy trip to the animal shelter to adopt a canine companion, form the heart of this upbeat and highly recommended story. Also very highly recommended for
preschool, daycare center, elementary school, and community library collections is Dia Michels and Michael Bowles companion book, Look What I See! Where Can I Be?At Home.

Soltera Books
A walk around the neighborhood seen through the eyes of a baby in a sling, this book is illustrated with attractive, glossy photographs, and written with interactive text. Each page presents a new day of the week, with baby waking up from a nap and seeing something: "On Wednesday, I fell asleep in my sling. When I woke up, I saw a fish. Where was I?" On the question page is a picture of a fish. The following double-page spread reveals a photo of baby and mom looking into a big fish tank... at the aquarium! Our children love the rhythm of the words and questions, as well as the photographs and the mystery of finding out where baby has awoken.

Eileen Hanning
Educational Specialist for The Reading Connection
My family grew by one in December. James' arrival prompted me, once again, to try to see the world from a tiny baby's perspective, and reminded me of Dia Michels' Look What I See! Where Can I Be? series of picture books. I shared her In The Neighborhood volume with delight with my first child. When I found that two more books in the series had been published since Tom's birth, I was thrilled. Now available are At Home and With Animal Friends, and two more- In China and At The Synagogue - are due out this year.

The Look What I See books present a wonderful combination of a babies perspective on the world around her, loving family interaction, reassuring rhythm, and repetition, and guessing game. Bold photographs show a family (Dia's, in fact) on the go. Baby falls asleep in one place and wakes up in another thanks to a wagons, baby slings, backpacks, and other forms of baby conveyance. When the baby wakes up she sees something interesting, and the guessing game begins. Days of the week provides basic structure.

"On Friday, I fell asleep in my backpack. When I woke up, I saw flowers. Where was I?" (Turn the page) "At the park."

Each book cover's a weeks worth of adventures and observations. Each day's mystery starts with a small photo of detail, like flowers. When the page is turned, the entire scene is revealed. Photos depict family members together, and Daddy and Siblings are just as involved with Baby as Mom.

The design of the books engages all the family members too. The simple text and photos of Baby will certainly appeal to babies. Toddlers will like the rhythm, repetition, and bright photos. Preschoolers will like the guessing game and searching for the baby doll and apple included in each double-page spread. Older sibling will enjoy how big Brother and Sister play pivotal roles in the stories and the photos. Parents will enjoy watching how the children grow as the book progress. The baby In My Neighborhood is a toddler by the time With Animal Friends was photographed, and Brother and Sister have clearly grown too.

As a nursing mother and a children's literacy specialist, I've noticed that very few children's books depict babies nursing. The "Sunday" page of In The Neighborhood has a beautiful and very discreet photo of Dia nursing Baby on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol. After careful inspection, I noticed that the With My Animal Friends book shows Dia wearing several different nursing tops. While I think the Look What I See books would make a great gift for any family with a baby, they would be very encouraging to a new nursing mother as well.

The Look What I See books would also be useful in early in early childhood education settings. Their structure and design are ideal for starting discussions with young children, talking about days of the week, and cultivating observation and reasoning skills. To make them even more useful to educators, Dia's company has created activity guides for each book, available online at platypusmedia.com. The guides are great resources for parents and teachers alike.

These beautiful, gentle picture books encourage small children to be aware of the world around them. They depict family members together, caring for each other. They are filled with reassuringly familiar images, yet have some surprises to keep them fun. And top-notch photography and design make these books a pleasure to look at, again and again.

Eileen Hanning is an educational specialist for The Reading Connection and mother of two boys. She is also past president of the DC Chapter and chair of the WNBA Pannell Award for Excellence in Children's Bookselling.

Jane Deskis
March/April 2003, Heartland Reviews, www.heartlandreviews.com
Vibrant photos take a child through different series in their young life. Whether it is through the neighborhood, at home, or out with animal friends, the young reader will enjoy guessing where they are. The pictures move from one specific clue to a large vibrant picture that shows the family interacting with each other. Matching and recognition
skills development in the young child can be enhanced with this cute series of books.

This story rates 4 hearts.

Barbara Kennedy
Children's Literature Comprehensive Database, July 2002
Look What I See! Where Can I Be? With My Animal Friends
Dia L. Michels
Photographs by Michael J. N. Bowles
Every day this week, Baby and her family are visiting animal friends at locations near their home. Family trips are fun, but she can't help napping. When she opens her eyes, she gets a glimpse, a look at an animal. The reader guesses, where are they? Where would she see a beautiful butterfly on a flower? Where would she see a dolphin swimming? Turn the page to see the entire scene. With clear, bright photographs and simple text, children are introduced to an aquarium, a nature center and other places they can learn about animals. At the animal shelter, Baby meets a special animal, a dog, that becomes part of her family! An added game for the reader is finding the baby doll and apple that are cleverly included in every scene. Part of the Look What I See! Where Can I Be? series.