"The creators of the crazy foldout foodchain book Animals Are Delicious give you an insight into how they made their beautiful models" —TheGuardian.com
"It's the kind of book the kids will love to get down on the floor with - you should join them!" —West Australian
"Learning about food chains in the animal kingdom... imaginatively and humorously told." —Smallish
"[P]layful and informative... These brilliantly conceived and executed books would be great for classrooms." —The Buffalo News
"Explains three of the longest food chains within the animal kingdom-in a bright and playful way." —Cool Hunting
"As the tales unfold, the retro-style artwork brings the food chain to life... Discover fun facts about creatures and their environments." —Little London
"Playful, tactile and sure to appeal to the morbid fascination children have for who eats who." —The Bookseller
"These subtly educational books are full of retro charm" —Scottish Daily Express
"Winner in the Smallish Design Awards Picture Book. An imaginative lesson about the natural world... All the judges loved that Animals are Delicious pulls no punches on a fairly grown-up topic but bright illustrations, concise text and a fold-out format make the whole book brilliantly child-friendly. There are not cute, cuddly anthropomorphised animals here, which makes a refreshing read for both you and your child." —Smallish
"From a slug to a bobcat, an aphid to an owl and a krill to a whale, three animal-food books for your own little monster... Sarah Hutt's book promises to stir the excitement inside your little one's mind." —Gay Times
"The colorful artwork and simple verse of these books is entertaining, but the real fun is in stretching them all the way out!... A gentle way to introduce the food chain and what plants and animals need to survive." —Atlanta Parent
"These eye-catching books make for comprehensible and educational reads... Constructing them in their foldout style [...] makes for a more fun and interactive reading experience." —Inis, Reading Guide
"Playful language and brightly colored stylized illustrations that are big on science, yet short on gore." —Buffalo News Online
"Crisp, stylish photographs of models made from paper and other materials illustrate every page, creating a dynamic visual accompaniment to the simple yet informative text. The books are sturdy so will withstand plenty of handling, and the concertina design means they can be opened out fully and displayed, so the sequence of each food chain is clearly seen and understood. An outstanding set of books, which are fabulous to share with young children, particularly in an educational setting."—BookTrust.org.uk
"Take a visual journey through three different food chains: forest, sky, and ocean... The images created by Ladd and Anderson, which are made from a combination of mixed media "sets" and figurines placed in paper, are whimsical and reminiscent of dioramas found in a natural history museum." —Science Friday
12/01/2016
K-Gr 2-In this set of informative foldout board books, Hutt explores natural food chains in three different habitats. "High in the sky, all around the forest, and deep in the ocean, everyone is hungry." At the bottom of each chain, the warmth and energy from the sun nourishes plants, which are eaten by a tiny organism like a krill, a slug, or an aphid. The chains then proceed through a line of ever-larger creatures until "no one is hungry anymore." The candid narrative highlights a variety of interesting animals ranging from ladybugs to owls, silverfish to whales, and shrews to bobcats, explaining how animals hunt and catch one another to survive. The books open up into six-foot-long, double-sided panels. As each volume unfolds, bright illustrations spotlight each creature in a singular fashion. Handmade figurines are set against paper and mixed-media backgrounds and photographed. A small, luminous pink squid floats at the bottom of the cerulean ocean. A yellow-eyed great horned owl perches on a tree branch. A red fox leaps through the dark green forest brush. On the reverse side of the panels, black-and-white pictures accompany additional animal dietary facts. VERDICT Although the quirky title may startle some sensitive animal lovers, these offerings, presented in a straightforward, unvarnished style, will work well in classrooms and programs.-Linda L. Walkins, Saint Joseph Preparatory High School, Boston
2016-06-22
Three food chains at work—at ground level, in the air, and in the ocean.In each picture Ladd and Anderson pose a single realistic, somewhat plasticized model in a simplified natural setting made with cut and folded paper. Printed separately on accordion-folded leaves of heavy stock and packaged together in a slipcase, the three sequences can be read through or laid out on display with equal ease. With cumulative narratives running beneath, each follows a similar course. "High in the Sky, Everyone Is Hungry," for instance, opens with elm leaves that "turn sunshine into food" until becoming food themselves for a woolly apple aphid that in turn falls prey to a ladybug who feeds a swallow and so on for three more levels of predation, up to a great horned owl snapping up a red-tailed hawk (unlikely but at least theoretically possible). Along with brief analyses at the end, silhouettes on the back sides of the pages show other foods in each creature's diet. Though these do convey a general idea of how food chains work, it's at best a bland and intellectualized one as, topic and the use of such words as "CHOMP!" and "GULP!" notwithstanding, predators and prey only appear in separate scenes, and there is no actual eating on view. A stylish showcase for the artists, but the lack of connection between pictures and plotlines will limit its interest for younger audiences. (Informational board book. 5-7)
