Me and My Animal Friends - Hardcover

Covert, Ralph

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0805087362 ISBN 13: 9780805087369

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR), 2009

Synopsis

If you wanted a pet, if you really really wanted just the right pet, what would it be? A gecko, a goose, or a humpback whale? A Minnesota minnow or a South Dakota snail? Come to Ralph's World and join Ralph on a zany adventure across land and water in happy celebration of animal friends of all kinds.

Kids' rock star Ralph Covert's playful lyrics to the popular song "Me and My Animal Friends" are coupled with Laurie Keller's whimsical illustrations. Make sure to look for Ralph on every page: he's in animal disguise!

About this title

About the Author

RALPH COVERT is the author of the picture book Ralph's World Rocks!, illustrated by Charise Mericle Harper, and is the Grammy-nominated creator of Ralph's World, the popular children's line of music which includes eight CDs and two DVDs. He can be seen regularly in his music videos on Playhouse Disney. He lives in Chicago with his family.

LAURIE KELLER is the bestselling author and illustrator of many books, including The Scrambled States of America Talent Show; Do Unto Otters, A Book About Manners; and Arnie, the Doughnut. She lives in North Muskegon, Michigan.

Reviews

PreSchool-Grade 1—This contagiously playful collaboration is filled with sly textual and visual jokes. Songwriter Covert's photo takes center stage on the title page and persists in a hide-and-seek game on the spreads that follow. His face peeks out of a springy kangaroo's pouch, stares between bat wings, flits by in a dragonfly, and reposes in a frog's pouchy cheeks. Keller's impish acrylic and collage illustrations are filled with swirls, sweeps, and explosions of color and shape; their almost musical quality reinforces the song: "Blue fish, red fish,/galloping goats,/puffins and camels/and piranhas in moats." But the song is not just a happy list of animals; it's a wild, whimsical wheedle aimed at two doubting but indulgent parents: "And I wish, I really wish,/I really, really wish/they could be my pets./Oh, please, pretty please,/from the bottom/of my heart/to the top of my head." Readers who don't know Covert's music are at a slight disadvantage: it would be far easier to "hear" the lyrics if the melody were already planted in one's brain. While the words are repeated, along with guitar chords, at book's end, sheet music is not included. Though the abundance of bounciness occasionally makes it hard to follow the text on the page, all is forgiven: in this book, it's the bounce that counts.—Susan Weitz, formerly at Spencer-Van Etten School District, Spencer, NY END

Edition details

• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0805087362
• ISBN 13: 9780805087369
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Keller Laurie
• Number of pages: 32