100 ANIMALS

A visual animal encyclopedia.

Caldecott honoree Jenkins lends his characteristic, detailed cut-paper illustrations to this lift-the-flap board book. Divided by climate (“arctic animals,” for instance), type (“airborne animals”), or habitat (“underground animals”), this picture-based guide presents the named animals in a series of simple grids. Each double-page spread features two flaps that, when opened, reveal more action than the surrounding illustrations. The flaps do a wonderful job of conveying motion, serving almost as before and after images. The trapdoor spider, for example, crawls out from belowground, and the penguin goes on a belly slide into the water. Jenkins plunges deeper into lesser-knowns of the animal kingdom than readers might typically find in a board book, a bonus for fans. There’s an oarfish, a tomato frog, and a darkling beetle, to name a few. As always, Jenkins’ illustrations invite readers to linger and look. The simple bee (a honeybee) looks as fuzzy as the real deal; the camel is furry, squinting with its signature suspicious eyes. Adult readers will get a chuckle out of some of the “indoor animals”: a moth, a termite, a cockroach, and a cricket, all of which might take some explaining to toddlers. Overall, this one will leave readers wishing for more of Jenkins’ rich illustrations, but it does succeed as a picture encyclopedia.

Beautiful illustrations with finesse of color and detail make this worth visiting again and again.