Wild Babies

by Margriet Ruurs, Andrew Kiss (Illustrator)

Overview

Placed 3rd in the Picture Book Category of the 2004-2005 Chocolate Lily Book Awards

Nominated for Shining Willow Award (The Saskatchewan Young Reader’s Choice Awards)


A gorgeous introduction to wildlife families that features breath-taking art full of hidden surprises for young readers.

The lively alliterative text in Wild Babies describes raccoon kits, otter pups, loon chicks, wolf cubs and more. Share the joy as these adorable babies learn to navigate their world of forests, mountains, or lakes. A legend helps to identify objects hidden in each painting, while detailed notes provide added information for budding naturalists.

The perfect book for summer campers, and for armchair campers too.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780887766275
Publisher:	Tundra
Publication date:	03/11/2003
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	10.25(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.36(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Margriet Ruurs is the author of many books for children, including A Mountain Alphabet and When We Go Camping. She has a Masters Degree in Education, and has spent her adult life both writing books for children, and teaching children about books. Margriet has spent a great deal of time hiking and camping in the mountains, and traveling. She has lived across North America, and now makes her home in Alberta.

Andrew Kiss came to Canada from Hungary in 1957. He grew up in Vancouver, teaching himself how to paint while working at sawmills. Andrew paints wildlife and landscapes, and has spent much of his life traveling the world to see his subjects in their native habitats. Andrew Kiss’s work has been exhibited across North America and Europe. Wild Babies is his third book with Tundra.

Editorial Reviews

Kiss’s illustrations are more than a visual feast…Libraries…should…make room on their shelves for this attractive title.”
–School Library Journal

“…Andrew Kiss’s paintings of each baby animal or bird [are] richly detailed, each painting a master of realism incorporating the creature’s habitat as well as –it seems –every fold of skin, or shading of fur.”
–The Globe and Mail

“…this beautiful book includes…richly coloured meticulously detailed painting[s] depicting wild babies in their habitat. A single line of poetic text accompanies each…illustration… Young children will be delighted with the opportunity to discover secrets hiding in each painting… Although Wild Babies is a perfect book for pre-school and primary children, the power of its simple prose and lush paintings will ensure its appreciation by older children. Libraries…will want to add this handsome and informative book to their collection. Highly Recommended.”
–CM Magazine

From the Publisher

PreS-Gr 2-A descriptive sentence accompanies each of a dozen richly detailed, realistic paintings introducing a variety of young mammals and birds native to a North American forest. Kiss's illustrations are more than a visual feast-careful perusal will show not only grasses, flowers, trees, and other (unannounced) wildlife (a butterfly, for example) but also a preview of the next creature from its name spelled in grass stems or cracks in the bark of a tree. Even more clues are offered: the glimpse of an ear, a tail, a leg. Appended to this pretty conceit are informational notes about each featured animal and clues to help locate the hidden names and creatures. An additional listing provides the terms for male, female, and young of each species, and its collective noun. Libraries that own Seymour Simon's handsome Wild Babies (HarperCollins, 1997), Kathy Darling's attractive Rain Forest Babies (1996) and Desert Babies (1997, both Walker), or even Stephen Swinburne's cuddly Safe, Warm, and Snug (Harcourt, 1999) should still make room on their shelves for this attractive title.-Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal