SHORTY'S ARK

The environmental song by Oldham and Matt Sweeney gets the picture-book treatment.

While several YouTube videos of the tune make clear the message of climate change and its effect on the Earth, the connection in this book isn’t nearly as obvious. What starts out seemingly as a rehash of Noah’s Ark, with a list of animals, takes a turn in the middle. “When the rain comes we’ll be there / to sing them in the sky / make constellations with our song / together, you and I // they’ll remind us of eternity / so we won’t have to die / they fill our dreams with savage schemes / we’ll join them by & by.” This suggests nothing so much as extinction and death, pretty dark topics for a children’s book, especially since there are no hopeful suggestions for a brighter future. While the verses’ rhymes are obvious when listening to the song, the book’s page turns make them easy to miss. Damiano’s illustrations feature cartoon animals in sometimes incongruous situations (two moles play cards underground) against bright backgrounds. Symmetry plays a large part in the design. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Noah has the better ark.