Animalia by Graeme Base
by Jenners • 03/01/2010 • 5 Stars, A Titles, B Authors, Children's Books • 15 Comments
Time for another installment of the erratically appearing series, Reading with the Little One! Today we want to tell you about one of our favorite books, Animalia by Graeme Base.
Not only is it an alphabet book featuring animals, but it has these luscious and amazing illustrations that you can pore over for hours. In addition, the author included a little “treasure hunt” in the book; each page has an illustration of the author for you to find. We have so much fun trying to identify all the things that start with the featured letter. For example, on the D page, not only do you see dragons, there are also dauschunds, dolphins, a drill, a drawer, a dinosaur, dynamite, a decanter, donuts, dice, dolls, drinks, daggers, a dormouse, a dragonfly, a duck, a drum, diplomas, doves, dogs, a doctor, a double-decker bus, a dictionary, darts and more. The Little One and I hunch over the page together calling out what we found. Another thing I adore is the gorgeous lettering the author uses on each page. But perhaps the best way to share with you the beauty of this book is to show you some pictures of it. (Keep in mind that I took photos of these pages with my camera, and they do not really do the illustrations justice. The colors are much more vibrant and rich in real life.)
From the title page
The D Page“Diabolical dragons daintily devouring delicious delicacies.”
The K Page
“Kid Kookaburra and Kelly Kangaroo kidnapping Kitty Koala.”
The L Page
“Lazy lions lounging in the local library.”
The W Page“Wicked warrior wasps wildly waving warlike weapons.”
The Z Page“Zany zebras zigzagging in zinc zeppelins.”
To find out what other bloggers are saying about the book discussed in this post, visit the Book Blogs Search Engine.
I love this post. It seems like I do more "reading with a little one" than without. You should make it a weekly meme and have readers post their most popular read of the week. I know that we have that one book each week that gets read over and over.
Mr. Base is amazing. We have Jungle Drums and The Water Hole, the later being our favorite. We could look at his pictures forever. The little girl isn't ready for these yet, but looking at the pictures on your post brought back fond memories of reading to my older daughter.
Kathy
The illustrations just blow me away. The animal lovers in my house will love this book. Thanks!
that is a fantastic looking book. I wish I knew a kid…..
"erratically appearing series" … I have one of those, LOL!
I didn't know this book – thanks for the introduction! We love all kinds of I Spy and "find Waldo"-type books. We'll be test-driving this on our next library visit.
the illustrations look amazing! and I like that there is a treasure hunt within the pages.
http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/
two things saved me as a young mom:
i love peanut butter and i adore children's
books.
animalia is a favorite.
just wait until yours is old enough for the "BFG"
by roald dahl!!!!
have a great day,
lea
I don't really recall reading this one, but I always loved The Eleventh Hour.
I love this theme. Such wonderful illustrations. With pictures like these I'm suprised anyone progresses to books without graphics, I could sit looking for ages. My favourite must be the lions in the lbrary.
I always loved Animalia when I was young – hey, I love it now. Have you read his other book, The Eleventh Hour?
I, too, love hidden stuff in books. Unless of course it's an adult book and the plot and/or resolution to the story are what is hidden!
My sister carried this around for months when we were little. She absolutely loved it and I am glad your Little One did too.
This book looks great!!!
Since my kids (and even my granddaughter) are too old for it, I might just have to get it for myself!
Oh, this is all-time favorite at our house as well!!
Wow, just the cover alone is incredibly well illustrated. What a great book to enjoy with your son.
What amazing illustrations! I used to love books that had thousands of little hidden things when I was a kid, and my kids loved them as well. We really got into the I Spy books and computer games. Excellent find!