The idea of a puzzle book sounds fun, but it doesn't work in this form. Here's the plot: it's Bo Peep's birthday, but she can't celebrate because all her sheep are missing, so she must go find them; she looks in the desert, the big city (using a "jet plane" with a propeller! ) until she finds a note from her sheep telling her to go to the boat house. The page facing where Bo Peep gets the note is the puzzle of the sheep throwing her a surprise party. But here's the problem: there's no way to easily/neatly keep the puzzle pieces with the book unless they're put together, thus spoiling the whole puzzle surprize effect. To keep the surprize, the puzzle needs to be taken apart just prior to reading the book, and that tends to spoil the surprize, too. I've tried storing the pieces in an envelope taped to the back of the book, but then it doesn't store in the bookshelves well. The puzzle itself is still beyong the capabilities of my two year old (and he solves lots of puzzles).

The illustrations are extremely bright and colorful, perhaps even gaudy. The drawings are simple, yet hide some unusual surprises, most of which are thus far lost on my two year old: sheep figures are hidden in the clouds, the buildings in the big city have sad faces.

I plan to use this book as a special birthday book. With the puzzle it's just cute enough to become a nice birthday tradition.

I think this book is great for Spanish families who have seen the movie; or have read the myth, but hadn't seen the movie, or who just want to see the movie.