Common Critters

March 1, 2020

K-Gr 2-This poetry collection uses colorful and somewhat silly illustrations to explore the bugs, worms, birds, and other animals that might live in a neighborhood; the illustrator suggests that the reader Google each animal to see their actual appearance. Each poem highlights an animal's physical features and characteristics, as well as some fun facts. Some poems are short and some fill a page; most use the familiar ABAB rhyming structure. Each double-page spread contains a poem on one side with a small illustration, and a full-page illustration on the facing page. The large, simple font complements the illustrations and makes for easy reading. The poems are light and fun, while the entertaining illustrations will draw in readers. The animal facts at the end are the most useful part of the book, though readers may easily overlook these facts in the back matter. A useful endnote from the author offers tips from the "poet's toolbox." There is information on rhyming and stanzas, and a reminder about artistic license with examples to seemingly explain the lack of visual accuracy. There are many titles that seem to fit this description: cute animals, cute poems, some fun facts. This title might serve as a teaching tool for lessons on poetry as well as creative drawing, but that target audience is somewhat older than what the format and illustrations suggest. VERDICT A supplemental title for collections already full of picture book animal poetry.-Susan Lissim, Dwight School, New York City

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March 1, 2020
Ordinary creatures are celebrated in verse. Some mammals, birds, insects, and other creatures receive their charming due in this bouncy collection of brief rhymes. The poems read and generally scan very well; each critter is the star of its own verse. Featured creatures, familiar as glimpsed (mostly) in yards, gardens, parks, or on neighborhood strolls, include ants, robins, spiders, squirrels, honeybees, both caterpillars and butterflies, skunks, earthworms, and more. The poems are fun, and independent readers will enjoy the jaunty rhymes and rhythms. Poetry's pleasures are best savored when recited, however, so kids who are already readers as well as listeners in laps and groups will relish hearing these selections aloud. These verses will well reward memorization, especially when lines like these (from "Crow") are involved: "And could this fact be much absurder? / A group of you is called a murder!" Educators and parents will appreciate that the poems also provide interesting, easily digestible nuggets of scientific information. Delightful watercolor-and-ink cartoons add uncommon whimsy throughout and feature lush surroundings, shown additionally in lovely opening and closing spreads. Rhymes appear on verso pages with humorous portraits of critters; facing pages depict the animals in their accustomed settings. Further notes in the backmatter about the critters and poetry lend weight to the volume. An uncommon introduction to poetry. (Picture book/poetry. 5-9)

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May 18, 2020
Superlative back matter elevates this illustrated collection of jokey poems celebrating neighborhood wildlife: “There are creatures all around you,/ not exotic, but not tame./ Though most are pretty common,/ they’re intriguing just the same.” Each critter gets its own poem on a spread illustrated with Tavis’s artful landscapes and goofily goggle-eyed wildlife. Brisson’s wordplay ranges from obvious ha-has (of crows: “And could this fact be much absurder?/ A group of you is called a murder!”) to sophisticated lines (of caterpillars: “It follows metamorphic urges/ to break out, and what emerges/ is a moth or butterfly/ that dries its wings and starts to fly”). A “Facts About Common Critters” section offers more information about the featured creatures (“A squirrel will crack open a nut and rub it on its face before burying it”) alongside a brief discussion of artistic license, while “A Peek into the Poet’s Toolkit” uses the poems to explain rhyme, meter, stanza, and poetic license. Ages 6–8.