Booklist
A zoo tour between covers, this oversize volume brings viewers face to face with a menagerie of creatures, from anteaters to zebras. Each spread features a laser-sharp, actual-size photograph of an animal’s body, usually its face, as well as a sidebar that lists a few basic facts in a whimsical, comic-panel format. Throughout, prompts encourage viewers to notice additional details: a camel’s luxuriously long eyelashes; a tiger’s roughly textured tongue; the white tips on a tapir’s ears. Several spreads fold out to accommodate larger animals; a four-panel image of an Asian elephant, who seems to eye the viewer warily, is unforgettable. The photographs give a visceral sense of what it might feel like to touch the animals, and the words bring in more sensory detail: a rhino’s skin, for example, “looks tough . . . but it feels nice and warm.” The playful table of contents, designed as a cartoon aerial map of a zoo, and endpapers filled with full-body snapshots of the animals complete this innovative introduction to global creatures that’s perfect for group sharing.
–Gillian Engberg
