| Juvenile Fiction |
| Picture Book Fiction |
Summary
Summary
Dog says woof . . . pig says oink . . . cow says moo. Animals and the sounds they make are paired up in playfully compelling ways in this eye-catching illustrated gift book featuring bold colors and an engaging use of onomatopoeia. Kids and parents will delight in discovering the ways in which the letters that spell out each animal's sound are key elements of that animal's illustration. With so much to see and to sound out, kids will relish this unique visual and educational experience, brimming with color and letters.
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 3-This clever book introduces readers to a wide variety of animals and the noises they make. Readers are exposed to a cacophony of animal sounds, from dogs to mice to crows to squirrels. The most engaging aspect of this book is the use of typography to illustrate the animals. Arndt arranges letters in different sizes and fonts in order to create the shape of subjects. A dog's ear, for example, is composed of a "W," and his mouth is a lowercase "f." The caption on the page reads, "Dog says woof." A mouse's curling tail is an "S," and its other features help to spell out "squeak." Each animal appears in a bold, monochrome color, using white spaces to capture details. The pages are dramatic and uncluttered. Every animal gets its own page, and all of them stand alone against a white background except for the owl, which is a black figure set on a blue page. The very young will find the animal shapes endearing and will delight in saying, "chirp!" and "chomp!" Children who can recognize letters well enough to identify an upside-down, sideways, or stylized letter will also savor this. Those who can spell will make a game out of searching for all the letters in the word "glub" that are hidden inside the shape of a fish. A beautifully crafted and truly stellar book that no library should miss.-Jess deCourcy Hinds, Bard High School Early College, Queens, NY (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Graphic designer Arndt puts a clever spin on onomatopoeia in his first children's book, using the letters from the sounds made by 25 animals to create minimalist, solid-color portraits. Since "Pig says oink," the "o" forms the pig's snout, the "i" creates its eyes (it appears to be winking), and the "n" and "k" make up the ears. The negative space of a lower-case "e" suggests the spindly legs of a yellow chick, and a florid cursive "g" (from "gobble") stands in for a turkey's wattle. Graphically restrained yet exuberant in its sense of fun, it's a winning blend of typography and zoology. Ages 3-5. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Concrete poetry meets onomatopoeia. Words for common animal sounds (squeak, moo, meow) are cleverly incorporated into the design of their respective animals; the simple and sleek monochromatic animal forms help the letters in each word stand out. Kids will enjoy identifying each animal and its sound, and then recognizing how the letters represent different body parts or features. (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
No other book of simple sentences about animal sounds also boasts eye-catching, often humorous graphics that show the letters of the sound forming the animal's head or body. For beginning readers, the cover invites a long perusal, a preparation for how to "read" the pictures inside. The unmistakable shape of a mouse, in solid slate gray, is composed of the letters--in varying types and sizes--that spell "squeak." Appropriately, as with most of the book's pictures, the letters are in sequence from left to right. (The "S"-shaped tail of the mouse is at the far left, eventually leading to the whiskers as the final "K" on the right.) Next to the mouse is a large ochre cat's face, with the "M" for "Meow" as ears and under that, eyes and jowls formed by the final letters. Other sly pairings inside include a mosquito with a frog. There are also some gentle rhymes, as "caw caw" lines up next to "hee haw," and a few surprises, such as "Squirrel goes chomp." Each page turn reveals a new graphic in a bold color, with a pleasing variety of single- and double-page spreads, as well as subtle changes in composition. This is one of those rare picture books with something for everyone to enjoy, beginning with colors, sounds and shapes for the youngest. (Picture book. 2-7)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
