| From
Kirkus Reviews:
"In
this visual feast from Lesser and Regan (Dig Hole, Soft Mole,
1996), so striking are the oil and gouache wildlife portraits
that, despite the counting book framework, numbers are nearly
an afterthought. Every spread has a you-are-there quality,
as if readers are peering into a rock-strewn stream to spy six
fire salamanders or scuba diving alongside one leopard ray in
the murky blue. The book opens with an invitation - "Spotted
creatures/wait for you. Snoop and find them/count them
too" - As Lesser toys with language, using active
verbs to describe the kind of spots found on each animal: "Staring,
rippling, jetting spots" dapple five reef squid; "loping,
gazing, nibbling spots" grace seven reticulated giraffes.
Although spots are the unifying theme, the creatures have been
carefully selected not only for their markings but for their
habitats or biomes, identified and outlined in a final glossary." |
From front cover flap:
Spots
are everywhere -
flapping, prowling,
climbing, splashing! How many spotted
animals can you count? From one leopard ray in the open ocean
to ten tundra butterflies in the arctic sky,
Carolyn Lesser's playful language and Laura Regan's glorious
paintings celebrate the rich and varied wildlife of our earth.
|
