Bestselling illustrator Dan Andreasen re-imagines a popular English folk song with a rambunctious menagerie sure to appeal to little ones. The song itself is rife with the rhythm, repetition and counting motifs that enrich the preliteracy experience for tots and Andreasen’s images enhance the text’s inherent whimsy. The book opens with one contented partridge atop a pear-studded tree. With the successive newcomers, though-two turtle doves, three French hens-the plump bird is soon bumped from his perch and finds himself wandering amongst the other giddy gifts. Kids will have a great time trying to locate the befuddled partridge amidst the dancing bunny ladies, leaping frog lords and piping crocodiles as well as picking out differences between the spotlighted critters in each double-page spread (for example, the pipers are arrayed in a variety of shirts and eyewear).