Beastly Puzzles

Starred review from April 1, 2019

Gr 2-5-Drawing on the practice of early natural historians, Poliquin's new book asks readers to guess an animal based on seemingly unrelated features. What animal could you make with dinosaur feet, several feather dusters, and a lion-killing kick? Or invisibility, extra neck bones, and fly paper? Each page features Eggenschwiler's beautiful monochromatic ink drawings digitally rendered, and highlighting the "creature features" in various colors. When you've made your guess, flip open the gatefold to reveal the animal within and the facts relating to each unique feature. The back matter gives a glossary of terms and a bit of further information about the book's concept and natural historians' tendency to combine known animals and objects to describe their discoveries. VERDICT Its quirky design would provide excellent context for a fun, engaging school project, and children and adults alike will have a blast guessing each animal. Highly recommended for school libraries.-India Winslow, Cary Memorial Library, Lexington, MA

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2019
A natural-history guessing game, with sets of "bamboozling" hints to what animals lurk behind gatefold flaps.Poliquin challenges readers to imagine which animal could be made up of, for instance, dinosaur feet, feather dusters, "a lion-killing kick," three billiard balls, and a handful of like components. Lifting the foldover reveals the answer--an ostrich--along with explanations (the balls represent the bird's eyes and brain) and additional facts, all delivered in a breezy style: During dry spells, ostriches "get moisture from grasses, roots, leaves, and an unlucky lizard or two." Eggenschwiler realistically portrays the 12 animals and the sometimes-outré clues (a blender turns out to represent a tarantula's digestive juices; a "3-legged woman" notionally suggests a red kangaroo's ambling gait) in contrasting hues over corrugated monochrome scenes of mildly cluttered rooms, workshops, garages, and like settings. The author's closing note on the exotic portmanteau creatures sometimes found in old travelogues points both to the source of her inspiration and a promising line of inquiry for budding naturalists with a historical bent.Definitely bamboozling--but in a good way, as exercises in unconventional logic. (glossary) (Informational novelty. 8-10)

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