So Many Feet

May 22, 2017
Sixteen animals and their useful-in-different-ways feet take center stage in this upbeat and informative board book. Mara uses a simple overarching rhyme to carry readers along (“High feet... Slow feet... Fast feet... Snow feet”) and supplies a sentence about how each animal uses its feet (“A polar bear’s feet spread wide to keep it from sinking into the snow”). Debut illustrator Vidal uses limited color palettes, clean shapes, and sharp edges to create scenes that make a big graphic impact and are well worth lingering over. A closing spread brings all of the animals back for an encore while asking readers to consider the things their own feet can do. Up to age 3. Illustrator’s agent: Stefanie Von Borstal, Full Circle Literary.

July 1, 2017
A variety of animals, 16 in all, shows off what their feet can do. "HIGH FEET / A mountain goat's toes help it climb and hold on to the smallest bits of rock." So begins the text's repeated formula, continuing with "SLOW FEET" (giant tortoise), "FAST FEET" (ostrich), "SNOW FEET" (polar bear), and so on. The simple facts presented in Mara's text are simultaneously simple and engaging, and many of the animals she chooses to highlight are not the usual board-book suspects. Alongside the aforementioned animals, readers meet the sloth, the gecko, and the blue-footed booby, among others. Vidal's boldly graphic art, created with flat planes of highly saturated color, is eye-catching. The larger-than-normal trim size serves these full-bleed, double-page scenes, which illustrate each creature's fancy footwork and hint at its habitat. They do not, however, necessarily give readers a very good sense of what each animal's foot really looks like. The final double-page spread reveals all of the creatures depicted and invites youngsters to contemplate their own toes by asking, "What can YOUR FEET do?" A neat feat. (Board book. 2-4)

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July 1, 2017

PreS-K-This large-format board book on the different types and purposes of feet features a menagerie of friendly cartoon creatures. Mara starts off simply ("slow feet" for giant tortoises), and her choices grow in complexity ("scratchy feet" for chickens). Kids will learn how each animal's feet are useful; for instance, the duck's webbed feet help it swim. A delight for those who can't get enough of Dr. Seuss's The Foot Book.

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2017
Preschool Feet in the animal kingdom are for so much more than walking, and little ones will get a breezy glimpse in this board book. In blocky, Charley Harperstyle illustrations, a wide variety of animals from all over the world demonstrate what their feet can do. In the desert, lizards dance to keep their feet off the hot sand, while in the arctic, a polar bear's feet spread wide to keep it from sinking into the snow. The tantalizing, brief snippets of information are just right for the age group, and the genial, boldly colored creatures that fill the pages are very eye-catching.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)