Reviewed by Emily-Jane Hills Orford for Readers' Favorite

I think I can recognize my dog’s nose and the noses of the rest of my family. But the other noses? I’m not so sure. All living, breathing creatures have noses and they’re all different. How observant are we of the actual nose of an animal – like a cow’s nose or a duck’s nose. I think I’d recognize a pig’s nose, but a squirrel’s nose? Perhaps. How about you? What noses can you identify? Without the entire animal illustrated to help you? We’re accustomed to learning how to recognize an animal, but not so accustomed to recognize its nose. However, when you think of it, the animal’s nose is as individual and unique as the animal itself.

J.P. Taylor’s picture book story, Who Knows Whose Nose?, is a clever and unique way to introduce a selection of animals to young readers. By using the theme of animal noses, the author has a created an interesting question/answer plot (a predict and reveal format), complete with nose pictures, followed by the answer and the complete image of the animal to whom the nose belongs. The repeated questions, “Who knows whose nose is this?” And “Do you know?”, followed by the simple answer, “It’s a --- nose!” inserting the animal’s name, makes this an early reader approach to help young readers recognize word patterns. The illustrations, colored photographs, help the young reader identify the animal and its nose. I loved the nose pictures and this book will have young readers eagerly learning and sharing in the question/answer approach. Even the title is an example of teaching and learning the distinction between the words, “who” and “whose.” A fun and educational book.