PEKE-A-BOO!, written by Wendy Zambrana with illustrations by Anne Zimanski, is a lovely children’s title starring Samantha, an adorable Pekingese dog. Samantha is highly adventurous and loves to frolic all day in the house and garden, and in the course of playing, her special blue ball has disappeared. The book invites young readers on an entertaining quest to join Samantha and find her ball.  A sweet and lighthearted book, with no special moral to impart, much of Samantha’s story is written in the form of rhyming couplets, as we learn about her daily routine and carefree life. She enjoys a good belly rub, frolics in the tall grass in the backyard, and loves to “splish and splash” in the bath. Interestingly enough, Samantha is actually based on a real dog who has a sister, Sophie. However, at certain points, the text does feel rather weak and may have been better served had the rhyming text been presented in the form of stanzas rather than paragraphs. Also, the story could have been slightly longer, maybe by introducing some of Samantha’s other toys or even the human members of the house.

Picture-wise, Anne Zimanski’s lavish illustrations bring Samantha to life. Vibrantly colored and filled with thoughtful details, they reveal more about the story than the text itself and are easily one of the more wonderful aspects of this short book. As the very pun in the title suggests, the images tempt the reader to look for the hidden “ball”, and in doing so, both children and adults can pick up on things that they previously missed–the rabbits in the garden, the little woodpecker at the nest and  Samantha’s other toys–which are scattered all over the place. Given that some of the pages feature only artwork, it won’t be a surprise if kids get lost gazing at the pictures, figuring out what Samantha has been up to.

PEKE-A-BOO! by Wendy Zambrana is a children’s book that makes for a lighthearted and enjoyable read, with Anne Zimanski’s enchanting illustrations bringing the adventures of Samantha, the Pekingese dog, to life.

~Archita Mittra for IndieReader