Common Sense Note
ANIMALIA's challenging vocabulary is well supported by vivid artwork. Young children will be eager to point out letters they recognize and to hunt for hidden objects.
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Mark Nichol
Sesame Street long ago changed the process by which previously prim alphabet primers were packaged, but nothing prepared parents and pedagogues for the phantasmagorical pictures in Graeme Base's ANIMALIA. Creatures bask, cavort, devour, frolic, juggle, monitor, navigate, preen, queue (the author is British), slither, vocalize, yodel, and zigzag.
This book succeeds on several levels: First, it is an alphabet book that will sustain interest and guarantee frequent return visits. Second, it celebrates the richness of the English language, introducing vivid, vigorous verbs amid abundant adjectives and adverbs and nimble, notable nouns.
Third, it further encourages language development by peppering background landscapes with loads of objects, inviting children to stab their fingers at the page and triumphantly call out each object's name.
This last activity will be challenging, because some of the objects are obscure or may be unfamiliar, or because it may take a child a moment to figure out why a steepled church is on the s page. But ANIMALIA assumes readers are intelligent, and older kids will enjoy the sophisticated art and text.
From The Book
Ingenious iguanas improvising an intricate impromptu on impossibly impractical instruments.
Plot Summary:
Amazing animals act out alliterative actions on each busy page in this groundbreaking alphabet zoo. Some, like horrible hairy hogs, mimic humans; others, like lions lounging in a library, are out of their element. ANIMALIA takes readers on a leisurely march through the alphabet--leisurely, because it's improbable that anyone will hurry through this spectacular oversized illustrated book.
Related Books:
Similarly playful alphabet books include Pamela Duncan Edwards's The Wacky Wedding, Max Grover's wild The Accidental Zucchini, Judith Viorst's wry Alphabet From Z to A, and Mordicai Gerstein's grotesque The Absolutely Awful Alphabet.
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