8: An Animal Alphabet

by Elisha Cooper

Overview

Explore the animal world, from aardvark to zebu!

Discover hundreds of animals, great and small. Lion and lizard, whale and wombat. Learn one wild fact about each animal. (Did you know that gorillas yawn when they are nervous?) Look carefully, because for each letter of the alphabet, one animal is pictured eight times. Why 8? Come inside and find out.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780545470834
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	07/28/2015
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	9.80(w) x 11.50(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	NP (what's this?)
Age Range:	3 - 6 Years

About the Author

Elisha Cooper is the award-winning author of Train, which received five starred reviews; Farm, which received starred reviews in Horn Book Magazine and Publishers Weekly; and Beach, which won the 2006 Society of Illustrators Gold Medal. Other picture books include A Good Night Walk, Magic Thinks Big, and Dance!, a New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year. Elisha Cooper lives with his family in New York City. For more information, go to elishacooper.com.

Editorial Reviews

★ 06/08/2015
Skillfully blending counting and matching elements into an animal-themed abecedary, Cooper invites readers to spot eight animals for each letter, nestled alongside other creatures whose names begin with the same letter. The G page is fairly packed with Cooper’s handsome portraits of a gazelle, gerbil, gibbon, giraffe, gnat, goose, gorilla, etc. (plus eight goats). Readers won’t have trouble spotting the eight xeruses, though; they’re the sole representatives for X. The animals’ names run along the bottom of each page, and a closing list offers intriguing details about the more than 150 creatures Cooper includes, while helping identify the less-familiar quoll, uakari, and yabby, among others. Ages 3–7. Agent: Liz Darhansoff, Darhansoff & Verrill. (July)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for TRAIN* "A poetic, beautifully conceived book." —BOOKLIST, starred review* "The loose watercolor-and-pencil artwork hums with activity and energy." —KIRKUS REVIEWS, starred review* "Cooper's signature sun-bleached watercolors beautifully convey human achievements and nature's grandeur through both detail and a range of scale." —PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, starred reviewPraise for FARM* "It's as thorough and pleasing an introduction to a farm as one could ask of a picture book." —THE HORN BOOK MAGAZINE, starred review* "The graceful text and serenely stunning illustrations create a portrait both reverent and realistic." —PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, starred reviewPraise for BEACHSociety of Illustrators Gold Medal (2006)"Cooper's portrayal of a day at the shore is generous with such minutiae; his fondness for his subject is evident and infectious." —SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL

From the Publisher

★ 05/01/2015
PreS-Gr 2—More than an oversize alphabet book (and slightly less than most counting books). Cooper's 8 is filled with playful representations of animals both familiar and exotic. He explains that he chose the number "because 8 is round and adorable…not too big, and not so small, but just right." Each letter features several different animals including one type that's depicted eight times, which is what encourages the counting element of the book. Some may quibble that the animals are not drawn to scale (for instance, a dung beetle should not appear as large as a deer's tail), but the fun of seeing eight varieties of hummingbirds or being introduced to a yabby surely outweighs such petty complaints. All of the creatures are identified in the formidable pictorial "Did You Know?" section at the back. VERDICT Unusual in its conception and scope and illustrated with joy, this is an alphabet book to pore over, worth adding to any collection.—Miriam Lang Budin, Chappaqua Library, NY

School Library Journal

★ 2015-03-25
A distinctive animal alphabet presents a counting game. The cover displays a large, shiny number eight. What does it mean? The author's explanation on the title page's verso provides the ebullient answer. "Why the number 8? Because 8 is great. Because 8 is round and adorable. Because 8 is fun to count to (move over, 10). Because 8 is not too big, and not so small, but just right. Because 8 is my favorite number." So, if readers look closely at each page of animals, from A to Z, one of them appears eight times. On the A page, nine critters are listed at the bottom; among them is the ant, eight of which roam among single examples of aardvark, abalone, albatross, alligator, alpaca, anteater, antelope, and armadillo. Cooper's loose watercolor images are arranged harmoniously against spacious white backgrounds. The number of animals depicted varies, with the lowest being one (X for xerus). There are surprises, as in the letter I, which presents ibex, ibis, iguana, impala, and inchworm. Readers might expect the animal to count eight times would be the inchworm, but actually, here it's the iguana. A four-page legend in the back identifies each creature with a one-sentence, interesting fact: "Quolls use communal toilet areas." Who knew? The heavy paper will withstand repeated viewings, which are guaranteed. Don't get behind the eight ball: order now; it's great fun. (Picture book. 4-10)

Kirkus Reviews