> All in nuances
The beauty of this album is astounding. One could spend hours leafing through it, detailing the downy coat of the red panda or genet, observing the shades of white in albino animals. The drawings of animal illustrator Julie Colombet are more than enough to place this book in the daily library of children (or their parents…). The bias is simple: on each double page, we discover a group of animals gathered for their common characteristics – those which wear a mask, those which hibernate, those whose tail is prehensile … Almost no text but, at the end of the book , the name of each species presented. Do not miss the double page of frogs “Not necessarily green”, a sort of colorful still life in which the extraordinary patterns of amphibians absorb us, without the risk of them jumping into a puddle.
The Great Animal Parade, by Julie Colombet (Casterman, 48 pages, 15.95 euros). From 3 years old. To be released October 6.
> Not so stupid
No need to go looking in the abyss or in the Amazon jungle to be surprised by our animal friends. This dictionary presents twenty-four animals, among the best known to toddlers: cow, dog, cat, wolf, lion … Great classics which have been used in children’s books, but whose particularities are told here with gusto. The crocodile has teeth which grow back; the falcon spots an ant 18 meters high; the cow eats between 40 and 50 kilos of grass per day (“At least the weight of your mom”). The author makes a lot of use of this type of pictorial comparison to understand what the numbers represent, small or large: the elephant weighs the weight of five cars, the camel drinks. “All your bath water in three minutes”. Something to arouse admiration and vocations (beware of soap in the bath water).
Dico animals, by Raphaël Fejtö (L’Ecole des loisirs, “Loulou & Cie”, 60 pages, 11.50 euros). From 3 years old.
> On the other hand
This great album is aptly named. Because the living things it presents are truly incredible – at least as much for adults as for children. We discover, for example, the Greenland shark, which can live from three to five centuries, “And whose female does not start having young until the age of 150” – excellent argument to throw at the heads of the kids when they call you old. We take a different look at the dung beetle when we know that it tows more than a thousand times its weight in excrement: “A real Hercules! “ Each animal (and four plants) is presented on an illustrated double page, accompanied by an identity card. Special mention for the axolotl, able to reconstitute itself “A paw, an eye or part of the brain”. Decidedly, we humans are very little …
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