Really sweet illustrations accompany and enhance the simple, repetitive text of this book.  The text itself is a series of three-word sentences, all following the, “I _____you.” pattern.  The illustrations add meaning, creating the story of how the parents and children of different animals on a farm and in the surrounding woods express their love for each other. The repetitive text and supportive illustrations are both good for emergent readers, and it’s a good conversation starter for how we express our feelings, and it’s just plain sweet.

Eh. The illustrations are fun, but I thought the story was a bit flat. As an assortment of sea creatures are filming an Underwater World live broadcast, Shark shows up, and keeps starting to do things completely in character for a shark to do: eat a smaller fish, eat a baby seal, follow the smell of blood to a group of human swimmers. Each time the host of the TV show calls for Shark to stop, and not do anything heinous while the people are watching, Shark declares he’s been misunderstood: he was just showing the little fish his new tooth, returning the baby seal to its family, taking band-aids to the wounded swimmer. And then he eats the host of the TV show. A few “fun facts” about sharks are scattered throughout the story.

Love Steve Jenkins’s work! This one addresses the reasons and methods by which some animals draw attention to themselves in the wild. Kids are often familiar with the need of animals to camouflage camouflage themselves in order to hide from predators or sneak up on prey, and this book points out that sometimes an opposite need exists, either to attract a mate or frighten off potential predators. Jenkins’s bright collage illustrations provide stunning details, and introduce students to a variety of uncommon animals from across the globe.  The main text of the book focuses on the means and reasons for animals to draw attention, but further information pages in the back provide extra details for the curious reader.

There are a few clever poems included, but the quality is inconsistent, which makes a certain amount of sense, given that they are all written by different authors. The illustrations don’t do anything to enhance the appeal of the book: the color scheme is drab and dull.

It’s a very simple book, with a simple, straightforward message: that we don’t need to be just like others in order to just like each other.  The illustrations are sweet and inviting, using a whole variety of animals to represent differences. The text is limited, with lots of repetition and rhyming, which is helpful for emergent readers, and the message is an important one.

I wish I could recommend this book. It’s beautifully illustrated, and full of beautiful sentiments about the American people. It certainly represents all sorts of things I want to be true. But it is so idealized it makes broad generalized statements that aren’t necessarily true of all Americans: when discussing the natural beauty of the land, it states, “Americans know that all these things are gifts to be cherished and protected, and passed on to future generations of Americans.” Yet we hear regularly in the news that a large percentage of Americans believe these things need to be exploited for economic gain. The book declares America a place, “where hard work is rewarded; where people can climb as high as their hearts and minds can reach.” As much as we all like to believe this to be true, it is not always the reality experienced by all Americans. I even debated giving this book a Not Recommended rating, but I’m going soft on it because I want it to be true.

I love this book! Surely, everyone who has ever read this book must love it. The illustrations are detailed and beautiful and full of personality. The language is rich and the story is multi-layered. When a baby fruit bat gets separated from her mother and falls into a nest of baby birds, she does her best to fit in, eating the bugs that mother bird brings, sleeping by night, and not hanging by her toes.  But then she flies ahead one day during flight practice, and instead of flying back to the nest at dusk, she stays out on her own past dark, where she meets others like herself, who teach her how to be a bat again. And she gets reunited with her mother, too.  When she returns to the nest to share all her new discoveries with her bird friends, things don’t quite go as planned, but they all decide their friendship overrides all their differences.

I feel like I am supposed to give this book a stronger rating, as it won an award in Holland. But if I am honest, I personally found both the story and the illustrations a bit odd. The story is about a knitting goat whose creations come to life. She starts out knitting goats, but when challenged by a neighbor she gets carried away and knits a wolf, who ends up eating the neighbor. When she knits a tiger to eat the wolf, it does, but then it turns on her. She finally figures out to knit a monster to eat the tiger, but not to let it off the needles, so after he eats the tiger she unravels the monster and keeps unraveling the other creatures until she sets her neighbor free.

If i were to judge solely on the illustrations, I would probably give this book an R*:  The illustrations are fabulous, somehow managing to be space-agish while having a certain vintage quality at the same time. But I am less thrilled with the text:  at times the rhythm seems a bit forced, and it can’t seem to decide whether it wants to be factual or fanciful. The rhyming text tells of an adventure on a rocket that only flies once a year,to fly out among the stars and see a giant banner wishing the earth happy birthday.  The last page offers some informational text explaining roughly how old the earth is, and potting the light power of the sun in terms of birthday candles.

The bright, graphic art is appealing to young readers, and keeps the monsters on the silly side instead of the scary side. The text rhymes. It’s got a cute surprise factor at the end, when monster number 10 turns out to be the narrator’s own sock puppet luring the others into a trap. He claims he intends to ship them far away, but the illustrations hint that perhaps he’s come to like them after all.