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Summary
Summary
In this stunningly illustrated introduction to the world's most beautiful birds, Jean Roussen and Emmanuelle Walker pay homage to an alphabet of birds in all their feathery fancies. From Warblers to Blue-tits and Kakapos to Owls, Roussen's playful, melodic poem is complemented beautifully by Walker's delicate illustrations.
Jean Roussen is a Swiss French graphic designer and writer who dabbles in publishing from time to time.
Emmanuelle Walker is an animation director and illustrator from Montreal, Quebec. As well as contributing to Nobrow magazine ( Nobrow 8: Hysteria ), she has worked with international animation studios across the world (Walt Disney Ltd., Sherbert and Nexus). She lives and works in London, England.
Author Notes
Jean Roussen is a Swiss-French graphic designer and writer, who dabbles in publishing from time to time.
Emmanuelle Walker is an animation director and illustrator from Montreal, Quebec. As well as contributing to Nobrow magazine (Nobrow 8: Hysteria), she has worked with international animation studios across the world (Walt Disney Ltd., Sherbert). She lives and works in London.
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 1-4-Organized alphabetically, these stunning illustrations of birds will inspire students of graphic design more than they convey avian information. The bright neon pink of the endpapers recurs on each spread, appearing as small details such as a kiwi's glowing eyes or as background as eagles swooping for their prey. Sharp-eyed readers will appreciate visual humor provided by touches such as the construction crane in the background of the page featuring whopping and crowned cranes or the lyrebird's tail next to the musical instrument of the same name. The brief, poetic text suffers from bumps in rhyme and rhythm, although the revelation of the peacock as the book's "guide" offers an amusing twist at the end. Small type minimizes the featured letters and not all of them represent birds, e.g., "V" is for a flight formation. Those searching for an avian-themed alphabet book incorporating large letters, clear illustrations, and brief but factual introductions should consider Jerry Pallotta's The Bird Alphabet Book (Charlesbridge, 1986). VERDICT Walker's illustrations deserve repeated viewings and can serve as a starting point for art and design projects for students in elementary school and above.-Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State University Library, Mankato © Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Saying that a particular shade of pink is the star of a picture book may sound strange, but in this case, it's true. A flash of neon vermilion jumps out from nearly every page of Walker's crisp, silkscreen-style spreads, created to accompany Roussen's avian abecedary, which runs from albatross ("the admiral of the skies") to zosteropidae ("finding that bird just made my day"). All the focus is on the artwork, and the supercharged pink is often used as an accent (or an exclamation point) in Walker's rich tapestries of the birds and their surroundings. The beaks and feet of doves, the needlelike tongue of an egret, two flamingos (of course), and an old-fashioned microphone atop which a lark perches are all jolted with shots of pink. The few spreads in which it can't be found are unaccountably quiet by comparison. There are some inelegant moments in Roussen's meter and rhyme, but since the artwork is doing all the heavy lifting, it's a minor quibble. The spreads are as opulent as a peacock's tail, and they'll send many back for long second looks. Ages 3-7. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
An alphabetical album of birds flies in from the U.K.From albatross to "zos-ter-o-pi-dae," the images in this slightly oversized import consistently stun with their composition and use of color. A squadron of the aforementioned albatrosses glides serenely across the page, wings outstretched at a 45-degree angle to the page edges; in between the birds, slightly smaller jets leave perfectly horizontal contrails across a pearly gray sky. On the verso of one double-page spread, a Canada goose leads a brood of gray goslings in a semicircle against a snowy backdrop; across the gutter, a domestic white goose leads squawking yellow goslings in a mirroring pattern across a sandy barnyard. A lark perches on an old-fashioned radio microphone and sings serenely in the spotlight, framed by diagonal curtains of black. Colors are matte, depending for their effectiveness on contrast and the judicious use of Day-Glo pinkan artistic choice that works with the striking compositions to create some images that reach abstraction, as in a layered congregation of cockatoo crests. The slight couplets are significantly less distinguished, often struggling for both rhyme and scansion, but they are easy to overlook as readers' eyes glide over the luscious pages. The image of a nightingale, framed in an open, circular window beneath a crescent moon, is alone worth the purchase price. With pages that beg to be sliced out and framed, a positive feast for the eyes. (Picture book. 3-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
An alphabet book featuring birds is nothing terribly new, but Roussen and Walker's visually thrilling avian abecedary flies higher than most. On tall pages, Walker's graphic-design-influenced illustrations depict stylish birds, from the albatross to the zos-ter-o-pi-dae. Each composition is artfully arranged, from two macaws nuzzling on crisscrossed telephone wires to the xanthocephalus (that means gold-head' in Greek) perched atop a classical statue of a torso. Pops of fiery, fluorescent pinks zing next to crisp shapes of organic colors, a palette that gives the whole package an otherworldly quality, but each bird is rendered carefully and realistically enough that browsers should have no trouble recognizing the real thing. For all the visual finesse, however, the text doesn't quite measure up. The rhyming lines are occasionally jolting and often don't offer much in the way of factual information. That said, the eye candy is the real treat here. Most kids and adults will enjoy flipping through the vivid, beautiful pages, each of which would look at home framed on a wall.--Hunter, Sarah Copyright 2015 Booklist
