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THIS IS NOT A NORMAL ANIMAL BOOK

Name: THIS IS NOT A NORMAL ANIMAL BOOK
Author: Julie Segal-Walters
ISBN: 978-1-4814-3922-0

by Julie Segal-Walters ; illustrated by Brian Biggs ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 17, 2017

Entertaining and even educational.

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A metafictive look at animal classification.

Segal-Walters' narrator “thinks she’s in charge” of her presentation of characteristics of different animals and animal groups, but she is one-upped by illustrator Biggs, who uses ink, crayon, and digital color to add Post-it notes and comments. His illustrations are quirky and funny. Introducing her subject, the narrator says, “If the cat laid an egg… / it would be a hen.” The surprise on the egg-laying cat’s face is mirrored by the expressions of the hen he adds. He has his own opinions about what should be pictured and how. When the narrator says that a frog that made honey would be a bee, he plays with images of a “bee-frog,” or “brog.” His snake is not a garter snake with a simple stripe but wildly colorful—and still sporting bees’ wings. He doesn’t want to draw a blobfish at all, producing instead an unforgettable photograph. Such silliness will probably appeal to young readers and listeners tired of more-traditional narratives, and the parade of animals (cat, hen, frog, bee, snake, shark, sunfish, gerenuk, and the aforementioned blobfish) will surprise. Both text and backmatter convey some essential traits of mammals, birds, amphibians, insects, reptiles, and fish. But even in the backmatter the illustrator has the last word, telling readers that fish “like to ride bikes after school.”

Entertaining and even educational. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-4814-3922-0

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

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THE TOAD

From the Disgusting Critters series

by Elise Gravel ; illustrated by Elise Gravel ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 5, 2016

A light dose of natural history, with occasional “EWWW!” for flavor

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Having surveyed worms, spiders, flies, and head lice, Gravel continues her Disgusting Critters series with a quick hop through toad fact and fancy.

The facts are briefly presented in a hand-lettered–style typeface frequently interrupted by visually emphatic interjections (“TOXIN,” “PREY,” “EWWW!”). These are, as usual, paired to simply drawn cartoons with comments and punch lines in dialogue balloons. After casting glances at the common South American ancestor of frogs and toads, and at such exotic species as the Emei mustache toad (“Hey ladies!”), Gravel focuses on the common toad, Bufo bufo. Using feminine pronouns throughout, she describes diet and egg-laying, defense mechanisms, “warts,” development from tadpole to adult, and of course how toads shed and eat their skins. Noting that global warming and habitat destruction have rendered some species endangered or extinct, she closes with a plea and, harking back to those South American origins, an image of an outsized toad, arm in arm with a dark-skinned lad (in a track suit), waving goodbye: “Hasta la vista!”

A light dose of natural history, with occasional “EWWW!” for flavor . (Informational picture book. 5-7)

Pub Date: July 5, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-77049-667-5

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Tundra Books

Review Posted Online: April 12, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

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by Elise Gravel ; illustrated by Elise Gravel

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by Elise Gravel ; illustrated by Elise Gravel

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GUESS HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU

POP-UP

by Sam McBratney ; illustrated by Anita Jeram ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 13, 2011

The book is available in just about every format--but this is the perfect one.

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It's hard to believe that a pop-up wasn't the creators' original intention, so seamlessly do moveable parts dovetail into this modern classic's storyline.

In contrast to the tale's 1998 pop -up version, the figures here move on every page, and with an unusually graceful naturalism to boot. From pulling down Big Nutbrown Hare's ears on the opening spread to make sure he's listening to drowsily turning his head to accept a final good-night kiss in a multi-leveled pull-down tableau at the close, all of Little Nutbrown Hare's hops, stretches and small gestures serve the poetically spare text—as do Big Nutbrown's wider, higher responses to his charge's challenges. As readers turn a flap to read Big Nutbrown's "But I love you this much," his arms extend to demonstrate. The emotional connection between the two hares is clearer than ever in Jeram's peaceful, restrained outdoor scenes, which are slightly larger than those in the trade edition, and the closing scene is made even more intimate by hiding the closing line ("I love you right up to the moon—and back") until an inconspicuous flap is opened up.

The book is available in just about every format--but this is the perfect one. (Pop-up picture book. 3-6)