Look, See, Find me by Sandra Severgnini

"Animals use camouflage to change their appearance, helping them to survive, find food and avoid being eaten. Camouflage can also help attract a mate, protect eggs or young, 

or communicate as a warning when danger is nearby."

Notice the magnifying glass on the cover of this new book. When you turn inside the front end papers contain lots more magnifying glasses - all empty - then on the back end papers you can spy a close up of all the hidden creatures. The end notes give further details about each of the 25 camouflage experts hidden on the pages of this book. I am sure your school library already has a good collection of titles about this fascinating topic and popular. This one will be a very welcome addition because it contains insects, fish, birds and reptiles and scrumptious rich illustrations. I think my own favourite is the Goldenrod crab spider which as the name suggests looks like part of a flower but when an unsuspecting insect lands on the yellow petals expecting to find some pollen instead they become a tasty snack!

This is a new title from CSIRO Publishing released this week. The rhyming text makes this book perfect to share with your youngest students or preschool group. As a bonus this book contains some rich vocabulary - textured; ornate; knobbly; blend in; and there is a useful glossary.  The publisher page has a link to some useful teachers notes.

Here is the publisher blurb: Explore the world of animal camouflage and find the camouflaged animals hiding on each page! Take a journey into the world of animal camouflage and uncover what may be right under your nose! Discover frogs that look like leaves, spiders disguised as flowers, crabs concealed as sponges and seahorses hidden in coral. See if you can spot the species hidden among stunning illustrations, and learn about these elusive animals in Look, See, Find Me.

Hidden in dead leaves on the ground,

can you see us hopping around?

Hidden on the page above and the one beside it there is a black spotted sticky frog and a Malayan horned frog. These are both found in South-East Asia.

Sandra Severgnini is an author and illustrator of numerous award-winning books. She has a background in botanical illustration, but her passion now is with picture books, especially those featuring environmental and nature subjects. Sandra’s fascination for the amazing world around her inspires her words and brings sensitivity and humour to her illustrations. She is also the author and illustrator of Dung Beetle on a Roll and these:

Mystery Musicians by Rodney Martin illustrated by Svjetlan Junaković

 

This is a lift the flap guessing game book. It is just so clever. On the first page there are two drums with drum sticks. Lift the flap to answer the riddle:

"I live in the desert and I clump through the sand. I have two humps I can thump in the band. I am a ..."

Yes you are right - a camel.

Here is another:

"I live among rocks and I like the high land, I have two horns I can blow in the band. I am a ..."

Mountain Goat

A flute turns into an octopus; a grand piano is a huge bear; the clarinet is an elephant and the French horn is a chameleon lizard.

This is another wonderful but sadly long out of print book. Perhaps I should start a new blog where I just focus on out of print books. I do worry that I keep sharing books here on my blog that you may not be able to find.

The format of this book is the first thing I noticed. It is long and tall. Mystery Musicians was first published in Zurich in 1999. My copy comes from Era in South Australia and was published in 2001. 

Svjetlan Junaković comes from Croatia. For his lasting contribution as a children's illustrator, Junaković was a finalist for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award in both 2008 and 2010. You can see more of his work here. 

Here is another book from the same series:

I am going to keep my eye out for another series illustrated by Svjetlan called Animagicals published in 2001. 

Who's Next? Guess Who! by Anton Poitier illustrated by Sophia Touliatou

 

This book is such a joyful one to share with a very young child. On each page there is a tiny hint of which animal will appear on the next page and yes you have seen this format before but in this book there is a twist. As more animals enter each scene one animal leaves. 

"First came the elephant with his friend, the lovely ladybird. Guess who was next?

Tiger came next, with his friend, the dog. Who left? Guess who came next?"

Blurb from Book Depository: This amusing guessing game book is entertaining and educational for pre-schoolers. Featuring a cast of quirky animals on each spread, children are prompted by questions to guess who will appear on the next page and who's leaving the page. The guessing game nature of this book allows children to use their analytical skills of concentration, thinking and observation to provide the correct answers. 

I hope you can find this book in a library because sadly it is out of print. I picked up my copy from a local bookshop but it had been on their shelves since 2016. As a bonus there are some delightful words in this book.  "Ginormous giraffe came next"; "a teeny weeny little piglet"; "with a tatty toucan." And there is a terrific, funny twist on the last page.  This is one of those books where your young reading companion is certain to say "read it again ... ".

Sophia Touliatou is from Greece. Here are some of her other books:

Who's Next? Guess Who! has a companion volume also by Anton Poitier illustrated by Tracey Cottingham:

Curious Creatures, Wild Minds part two, Guessing

Curious Creatures, Wild Minds

As I said in my last post, I have been thinking about the 2020 CBCA slogan. Along with an exploration of the CBCA short list I like to delve into the slogan each year.

Curious Creatures - I found some books that use our natural curiosity. I found Who am I? In a book sale today and that made me think about other books in this format.

This book, published in 2019, contains twelve endangered animals. Each is revealed with a small peep hole then your turn the page to check your "guess".  I think this embodies the term curious and of course it contains all sorts of creatures. Some you will easily guess and your youngest readers will be familiar with them too such as the giant panda, polar bear, lowland gorilla and Bengal tiger. Other curious creatures may be less familiar or perhaps new discoveries - making your mind go "wild". Axolotl, Philippine eagle, Indian gharial and the crowned sifaka. At the back of the book there are brief notes about each animal but readers and curious minds might then use this as a jumping off point for further research.

Steve Jenkins is another author who has a number of brilliant books about animals. I will feature other titles in another post but these two would be good to use with Who am I? A Peek though pages book of endangered animals.

Another book I found this week at a charity book sale is Call me Gorgeous! by Giles and Alexandra Milton published in 2009.  If you cannot find the book here is a video. It is a little bit too fast but you could pause each image and have a discussion.

This book takes parts of animals to make a new curious creature. It would be such fun to try this with a class of young children.  Here are some text quotes:

"I've got reindeer antlers
and the ears of a pig.
A porcupine's spine
and a crocodile's teeth."

Your creature will also need feet, a neck, a beak,wings, spots, a tail and some eyes and now "You can call me gorgeous!"

There are lots of guessing game books - you are sure to find some in your library.