Karen B. Winnick

This book is a solid 3.5 stars. I rounded up on the rating because I think it would be closer to a 4 but not quite a 4. Thank you to the author for sending a lovely autographed copy.

The illustrations in the book are lovely. I know they will appeal to children as they appealed to me. They are soft paintings with a focus on the animals featured in the page's poem. I like that there is not a lot going on in the back ground of the illustrations and that the colors are mostly blue, green, grey, brown, and black with a smattering of yellows and pinks; true nature colors without a lot of gaudy attention grabbing colors thrown in. This is a book we can safely read to calm at bedtime or even for a slowdown in the middle of the day.

I liked some of the poems quite well. It is good poetry, but obviously not Robert Frost. I liked it but not as well as say Joyce Sidman's poetry. Perhaps it is not exactly my style. When I went through and read it again however, I liked it better. I think if I read it out loud to my 6yr old I would have fun with it. We just haven't gotten a chance yet.

My oldest (16) declared this a "nice book." We are picture book aficionados so her buy off is usually a good sign. While this book is not destined to be one of our favorites, it is one I will keep on my shelf because of the artwork, subject matter (African animals), and poetry combination.… (more)