Not particularly funny or clever, but a decent book about the peculiarities of some animals (i.e. why zebras have stripes). ( )

Reading Why? is a bit like visiting kindergarten class on a day when the kids are as lively as Mexican jumping beans. Question-and-answer format, silly answers, mock childish drawings, and uproarious high spirits.

This book is about why animals have different patterns and how they survive. ( )

This book was very entertaining to read, yet also very informative. It goes through different animals and asks questions about them that are pretty common, usually about strange phenomenons that the animals go through. For example, one of them was "Why do kangaroos have pouches?" The author wrote funny answers, or unreasonable answers for entertainment or for what kids might actually believe, but then every question is answered with scientific facts. I even learned a lot from it and was very intrigued by some of the facts. Great book to have around. ( )

Originally published in Slovenian as Zakaj?, Lila Prap's informative and entertaining picture-book uses a series of questions and answers to introduce young readers to fourteen different species of animal. Each question - Why do lions have manes? Why are zebras striped? - is answered in a variety of ways, first with a series of humorous answers, penned by Prap, who is also the illustrator, and then with a starred factual answer, provided by scientific consultant, Jelka Pogačnik. The artwork, done in earthy tones, has a whimsical style that adds to the reader's sense of fun and discovery.

Chosen as one of our November selections, over in the International Children's Book Club to which I belong, where we read a children's book from a different country each month, Why? is the first book I have read by author Lila Prap, and the first from Slovenia! Innovative and engaging, with a smart design, and appealing artwork, it is a book that ably fulfills its mission of informing young readers, and sparking an interest in the natural world in them. I found myself chuckling at some of the insouciant nonsense answers - Zebras have stripes because they're wearing pajamas! Or because they've escaped from jail! - and came away from the book with a desire to pick up more of Prap's work. If this is the kind of kid's book they produce in Slovenia, then we need to translate more of them! ( )