Yay! Here we are at Perfect Picture Book Friday!
This week, that means that tomorrow is the annual New York State Sheep and Wool Festival!
I love this festival, and highly recommend it to anyone who does any type of craft with yarn – so much gorgeous yarn to choose from! plus classes and exhibitions on how to knit, crochet, weave, shear sheep, spin, etc, and tons of beautiful gifts – or to anyone who really likes hanging around with sheep, alpacas, and llamas and enjoys indulging in fall fair food 🙂
I will be signing copies of my books courtesy of Merritt Bookstore in Building B all day Saturday and Sunday. If you’re in the neighborhood, please stop by and say hi! My good friend and fellow author, Iza Trapani, will be there too with all of her wonderful books!
Anyway, on to Perfect Picture Books!
Quite by accident, I chose nature-oriented nonfiction books for older picture book readers two weeks in a row! This is a beautiful one that I think you’ll really like!
Title: Look At Me! Wild Animal Show-Offs
Written & Illustrated By: Jim Arnosky
Sterling Children’s Books, September 4, 2018, nonfiction
Suitable For Ages: 6-10
Themes/Topics: animals, nonfiction
Opening: From the introduction written by the author: “Whenever I view a distant bird up close through my camera’s telephoto lens or hold a glistening trout in my hands as I release it back into the water, I am awestruck by their beauty. Why are wild animals so stunningly beautiful?”
From the first section: Fanned Tails: “Behold the glorious peacock! When fully displayed, a peacock’s spectacular tail is four feet wide and two feet high. That’s eight square feet of tail! Combined with the bird’s loud, raucous call, a displaying peacock gets plenty of attention.”
Brief Synopsis: From the publisher’s summary: “Meet the show-offs! With their wacky eyebrows, beautiful patterns, and bright feathers and scales, many animals seem to be saying: “Look at ME!” That behavior certainly won’t protect them from predators, so why do they do it? Jim Arnosky explores a multitude of creatures from across the globe to reveal the reasons behind their attention-grabbing behavior.”
Links To Resources: the book itself is an incredible resource. Full of interesting facts, and amazingly detailed illustrations. An author’s note at the back gives a glimpse into the author’s experience and process of writing the book. A useful bibliography of further resources is also included. Draw a bird, animal, or reptile and decorate with your own feathers, textures, sequins, etc. Make it as realistic as possible or invent your own creature and make it as fanciful as you like!
Why I Like This Book: I love learning about animals and nature, and this book is terrific for that. The information presented is interesting and accessible, but actually, I truly love this book for the art! The illustrations are exquisite! Most of the pages fold out so that the illustrations are the size of 4 pages. The colors and attention to detail are incredible. This is an excellent choice for the animal and/or nonfiction-loving young reader and would make a great addition to classroom, library, or home bookshelves!
Look at the detail!
And here’s one of the fold out spreads that is 4 pages wide
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do 🙂
For the complete list of books with resources, please visit Perfect Picture Books.
PPBF folks, please add your titles and post-specific links (and any other info you feel like filling out 🙂 ) to the form below so we can all come see what fabulous picture books you’ve chosen to share this week!
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!!! 🙂
Susanna Leonard Hill 
This looks gorgeous, Susanna! Great choice! Enjoy the Sheep Festival tomorrow – it’s on my bucket list, but I’m heading “south” instead to the Rutgers 1-on-1 for a kidlit feast.
Ooh! Have a great time, Patricia! I’ve heard fabulous things about that, though I’ve never gotten to go!
We are on the same page today with nature. This looks like a beautiful book that provides kids with great information about animals facts and gorgeous illustrations. Enjoy the Sheep Festival tomorrow.
Thanks, Pat! I always love Sheep & Wool 🙂 This is indeed a gorgeous book – well worth a look if you get a chance!
oooh! This book looks gorgeous and fun! I love the cover. Have fun with wool – I’ll be at Rutgers 1-on-1.
Ooh! You and Patricia! Hope you have a fantastic time! I’ve heard great things about the Rutgers 1-on-1!
This looks like a great one to share with my animal-loving 8-year-old. Have a blast at the Sheep Festival tomorrow! Wish I could be there.
If you have an animal lover, s/he will certainly enjoy this! Wish you could be at S&W too – it’s awesome!
Wow! The detail in these is amazing! Personally, I love animal show-offs, especially birds. They come with such crazy decoration. But other categories, like noisemakers, is fascinating, too. Will have to take this one for a spin. Thanks for featuring!
It has all kinds of cool sections, Jilanne, including Fanned Tails, Skin Spreaders, Noise Makers, Inflators, Fancy Feathers, and more!
Oh, and let’s hear it for the sheep. Baaaaaaa!!
Baaaaaa!!! 🙂
Wow! The foldout page with the elk is oh so timely because it’s migration season and this morning I had 2 bulls with big racks and the harem pass behind my house! It’s so cool to watch them.
Oh, wow! That sounds aMAZing, Laura! I would love to see that!
Here’s the exact quote which I found on Goodreads. It really spoke to me when I loved a certain line in my MS and I kept getting people saying it didn’t work for them. It’s hard to let go of what we think is a gem.
From Neil Gaiman:
“Remember: when people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.”
That is a great quote, Laura! Sums it up perfectly!
I can’t wait to find this book! Those fold out pages are amazing. So glad you featured this book. It’s definitely being added to my TBR list.
It’s a very cool one, Maria! The fold-out pages are amazing. And as I mentioned to Jilanne above (and probably should have included in my review! 🙂 ) there are sections on Fanned Tails, Noise, Makers, Skin Spreaders, Inflators, and more!
Beautiful book. Kids and adults will love this. Thanks for sharing Susanna.
The detail in the art is exquisite! It’s a beautiful book – and interesting!
This book looks awesome (provided there’s a cuttlefish in it. Is there a cuttlefish? I like cuttlefish.).
And congrats on your Wool Festival signing! Here’s hoping it was a big success!
I just like saying “cuttlefish” over and over, Mike 🙂 I don’t recall one in the book… but we all know my mind is a sieve so there might well be one 🙂
What a great title! Show-offs! I think I will love the illustrations, too. Thanks! Hope the book signings went well!
I think you will love the illustrations, Angie – they’re exquisite! So detailed!