Animal Trunk: Silly Poems to Read Aloud

A collection of simple poems about such animals as donkeys, cows, giraffes, monkeys, kittens, and goats.

Every one of Belgian artist Gabriel's illustrations for this animal kingdom primer is a stunner. Set against full-bleed backgrounds of vivid, saturated yellow, red, blue or green, his limited palette portrays exuberant bears, monkeys, lambs and other creatures that bring to mind primitivist folk art. A voracious crocodile rockets out of the water, his scaly skin looking like a mosaic of blue and green bottle glass. A tiger erupts in a feast of unexpected colors that evoke a tribal mask. Most of Ghigna's (Tickle Day: Poems from Father Goose) simple rhymes rely heavily on repetition ("Crocodiles sun./ Crocodiles nap./ Crocodiles yawn./ Crocodiles snap"), and their chantlike meter meshes well with Gabriel's exotic visual stylings. Just when readers settle into a rhythm, a welcome aberration comes along ("It's easy to laugh/ At the tall giraffe/ Each time we go to the zoo"). This lively collection will have children clamoring for repeat performances until they can read all the rhymes solo. Ages 3-5. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

PreSchool-Grade 3-Boldly colored pictures outlined in black accompany mediocre poems about common animals. Simplistic rhyme schemes and iambic rhythms change very little from one selection to the next. ("Bunnies nibble./Bunnies doze./Bunnies twitch/A bunny nose." "Snakes are slender./Snakes are sleek./Snakes like playing/Hide-and-seek.") The stylized illustrations give the creatures a somewhat morbid appearance. In one picture, a slender goat with an immense udder reaches for leaves, while in others, animals look out at readers with tongues hanging out of their mouths at odd angles. Children will be better served by Doug Florian's Beast Feast and Jane Yolen's Animal Fare (both Harcourt, 1994).
Shawn Brommer, Southern Tier Library System, Painted Post, NY
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.