Animal Ark: Celebrating our Wild World in Poetry and Pictures (National Geographic Kids) - Hardcover

Alexander, Kwame; Hess, Mary Rand; Nikaido, Deanna

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1426327676 ISBN 13: 9781426327674

Publisher: National Geographic Children's Books, 2017

Synopsis

A howling wolf, a stalking tiger, a playful panda, a dancing bird – pairing the stunning photography of National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore with the delicate poetry of Newbery award-winning author Kwame Alexander, this lush picture book celebrates the beauty, diversity, and fragility of the animal world.

Featuring more than 40 unique animal portraits, the pages invite kids to explore each creature's markings, textures, and attributes in stunning detail, while calling on all of us to help protect each and every one. Three picture-packed gatefolds inside showcase even more familiar and exotic species. These images are part of Sartore's lifelong project to photograph every animal in the world, with special attention given to disappearing and endangered species.

About this title

About the Author

KWAME ALEXANDER is a poet, educator, and New York Times bestselling author of 21 books, including The Crossover, which received the 2015 John Newbery Medal for the Most Distinguished Contribution to American Literature for Children. His other recent works include Booked, Surf's Up, and He Said, She Said. He is the founder of Book-in-a-Day, a student-run publishing program that has created more than 3,000 student authors in 75 schools; and LEAP for Ghana, an international literacy project that builds libraries, trains teachers, and empowers children through literature. In 2015, Kwame served as Bank Street College of Education's first writer-in-residence.

JOEL SARTORE is the founder of the Photo Ark, a photographer, speaker, author, teacher, conservationist, National Geographic Fellow, regular contributor to National Geographic magazine. In addition to the work he has done for National Geographic, Sartore has contributed to Audubon Magazine, Geo, Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, the Smithsonian magazine and numerous book projects.

Reviews

K-Gr 3—Opening with an earnest invitation to "see what we can save—together," Alexander and Sartore have crafted a stunning journey through the animal kingdom. The book implores readers to pause and look each animal in the eye, to soak in the majesty and diversity of nature. Alexander's haiku is lively and at times deceptively light, containing lines that carry with it the staggering weight of conservation and extinction, hope and loss: "grandfather of the hunt/FIERCE and FAST/and favored, forever?" accompanies a full-spread photo of the Malayan tiger, its gaze level with readers'. Not to worry, though—there is a bit of fun to be had, too, from the likes of an impossibly cute doe-eyed Bengal slow loris, poetry that recalls kid-friendly movement (leaps, stomps, howls), and typography that mirrors sound (for "coils of hiss," the letters float up the page). Visual epiphanies also abound: the pairing of an African leopard and the similarly spotted bobtail squid inspires a sense of unity while highlighting, in exquisite photographic detail, their unique traits. A "Chorus of Creatures" midsection directly addresses readers and urges them to consider their actions and assist in caring for wildlife. Three foldouts identify the animals featured (the photos are part of Sartore's larger Photo Ark project, which aims to photograph every captive species). VERDICT Ideal for sharing one-on-one or with a small group, this impassioned and timely call to reevaluate our relationship with nature is a must-have for poetry collections.—Della Farrell, School Library Journal

Edition details

• Publisher: National Geographic Children's Books
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1426327676
• ISBN 13: 9781426327674
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 48