30 Mar / Around the World on Eighty Legs by Amy Gibson, illustrated by Daniel Salmieri
Warning: reading this whimsical globe-trotting picture book debut from Amy Gibson with your young ‘uns will surely make them peripatetic adventurers sooner than later in life. Divided by continent, Gibson wanders the globe sharing giddy, often enlightening poems about animals familiar and hidden.
In South America, the quetzal (our tween son’s favorite bird ever!) plays with his tail that “could twist into a pretzel.” Even though the basilisk can walk on water, Gibson glibly warns not to try the same!
In the Arctic and Antarctica, the auk talks, the skua streaks, and the guillemot lays wedgy eggs. Far in the Sahara, the lion and lioness debate gender rights, the hyenas lurk, and the warthog worries over beauty rest. In Asia, the proboscis monkey prepares to sneeze (watch out!), the slow loris creeps while everyone else sleeps, and the yaks yakkity yakkity yak. Way down yonder, the sugar glider leaps, the bilby eavesdrops, and the Australian desert frog gets up just once a year to drink.
And just in case you missed a detail or two, Gibson also includes a “Menagerie of Facts” for your scientific edification.
After such a whirlwind tour invitingly illustrated by Daniel Salmieri, your kiddies just might be inspired to become conservationists, animal rights activists, biologists, and treehuggers … and make the world a better place for every living being! Share the journey together soonest!
Readers: Children
Published: 2011