Animal Antics: A to Z

by Anita Lobel, Anita Lobel (Illustrator)

Overview

Little ones will practice the alphabet, learn animal names, and can try out clever acrobatic moves by themselves or with a friend in this inventive and amusing picture book created by beloved Caldecott Honor–winning Anita Lobel.

From adoring alligators to zany zebras, the animals in this book are sure to keep young readers amused with their antics. And look at the acrobats! The remarkable group of energetic contortionists stretch and stand and reach to form all twenty-six letters of the alphabet with their bodies. The merry performers will encourage kids to get up and move around after reading!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781534495012
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books
Publication date:	07/05/2022
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.25(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	NP (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Anita Lobel’s name is synonymous with the best in children’s literature. She is the creator of such classics as Alison’s Zinnia and Away from Home, and she received a Caldecott Honor for her illustrations in On Market Street. She is the creator of three books featuring her cat, Nini: One Lighthouse, One Moon (a New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book); Nini Lost and Found; and Nini Here and There. And she wrote Ducks on the Road, which The Horn Book called “cozy.” Her childhood memoir, No Pretty Pictures: A Child of War, was a finalist for the National Book Award. Anita Lobel lives in New York City.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 1-3-"Adoring Alligators," "Charming Camels," and "Elated Elephants" are joined by more unusual animals ("Impish Ibexes," "eXuberant Xenopus," and even a pair of "Unlikely Unicorns" are a few) in this colorful circus-themed, animal-sounds book. Lobel's affection for the dramatic is reflected in the format: each letter is presented on a brightly curtained page (or stage) of its own. An assortment of acrobatic tightrope walkers-clowns, mostly, but with pilgrims and peasants appearing on occasion-contort themselves to form uppercase examples, and the stars of the show-the animals themselves-wear festive party hats and neckpieces. The artist's trademark watercolor-and-gouache illustrations are rich and painterly, with a Peaceable Kingdom-like frontispiece portrait of the animals, sans costumes. A concluding page of "Animal Answers" offers anecdotal details about each creature. Because the adjectives chosen are a bit oblique (what makes an ostrich obedient, say, or a quetzal quaint?), and because the initial letter-sounds are not always in sync, this fanciful work may not function as a traditional alphabet book, but Lobel's fans and collectors won't care.-Kathy Krasniewicz, Perrot Library, Old Greenwich, CT Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

This bright, bold alphabet concept book offers a circus tent of animal favorites dressed in a variety of hats and accessories below a series of agile acrobats contorting their bodies into the shapes of all 26 letters. Lobel uses deep hues in watercolors and white gouache to illustrate her menagerie of "adoring alligators," "elated elephants," "kooky koalas," "romping rabbits," "tender tigers," "eXuberant Xenopus" or "zany zebras." Her acrobats display an equal feeling of playfulness portraying clowns, pilgrims, Eastern European folk and even a likeness of the author herself. A final page of "Animal Answers" briefly gives a two to three sentence summary of the creature's actual characteristics and traits. A charming and literary frolic through a carnival of letters, descriptive adjectives and critters. (Picture book. 3-5)

Kirkus Reviews