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JUST LIKE YOU AND ME by David Miller

JUST LIKE YOU AND ME

by David Miller & illustrated by David Miller

Pub Date: April 1st, 2001
ISBN: 0-8037-2586-8
Publisher: Dial Books

Miller follows up his strong debut in Mem Fox's Boo to a Goose (1998) with a series of even more striking paper sculptures. The premise is simple: sometimes animal and human behavior mirror each other, as when a lion lounges on a hot day, cranes dance gracefully, a cheetah moves like the wind, or a mother bird loves and protects her nestlings. Placed against minimal backdrops, the big, brilliantly hued animals are created with amazing realism from cut and woven paper, with every feather, tuft of hair, or swirl of fur distinct. On alternating spreads human analogs are rendered in less exacting detail, but natural-looking poses. The main text runs to just one short line per page, but Miller introduces the eight animals he depicts with a paragraph apiece at the end, sometimes naming the particular species, sometimes not. Like Steve Jenkins's animal portraits for Sneed B. Collard's Making Animal Babies (2000) and earlier books, this is a virtuoso work, and will easily draw a fascinated audience of young nature lovers. (Picture book. 4-7)