Independent Reading Level: Grades 1-2

Awards: None

LOC Summary: "An alphabet book with fantastic and detailed pictures, bearing such labels as "Lazy lions lounging in the local library."
And I agree!!!

One of the best ABC books there is. ( )

The classic you probably read when you were younger, full of vibrant art and some good phonics seek-and-find.

This book really creeped me out as a kid, but I didn't know why. I read it today as an adult, and it's not as creepy, but I still feel weird, still can't put my finger on why. The art is delightful and the alliteration cute if problematic at times--kidnapping kangaroos are supposed to be funny. They are not. I'm glad this book isn't creepy to me anymore, but I'll be kind of worried if my nieces or little cousins like it. So, mixed feelings over here. ( )

This is one of my very favorite books to share with a child. We can sit for hours talking about the pictures. ( )

In so many words I can not tell you how I was strike by the scope and detail by Graeme Base's illustrations. They conveyed so much detail and surreal ideas all the while using the alphabet and phonetic frontal matching sounds. Throughout the author paints a personal and surreal story using each letter and its corresponding initial sound to come up with amazing play on words. My students will love this book for its wonder and renderings of surrealism and it is a great way to teacher initial sounds and the letter sound correspondence to boot! Graeme Base has made me a disciple. (Victor V. Vulture the Vaudeville Ventriloquist) ( )

The stunning collection of images, combined with the whimsical and playful alliterations make this ABC book stand out. With so much detail, one can read the book again and again, and notice things for the first time. ( )

Fantastic illustrations that have hidden items on each page, all starting with the same letter. ( )

A coveted item in my elementary school library. I picked up the anniversary copy for posterity, to make sure there's always at least one around.

Each page picks a letter of the alphabet, with a sentence using that letter, and a picture that illustrates that sentence. Each illustration is also filled with items that start with that letter. As a child, I loved the animal pictures, and the detailed and complex illustrations were so much more engaging than simple picture books. Naming each object in each picture was often a group exercise in the library, as the book was often open on a table with a cluster of kids around it. ( )

Love this incredible, amazing picture book with all my heart. Each letter of the alphabet is celebrated with detailed, depictions of all kinds of animals and objects. This seek-and-find book gets better with every perusal and is great for all ages. My personal favorite is the lazy lion in the library! A wonderful gift. ( )

We had SO much fun finding all the pictures hidden within these intricate illustrations! Bedtime was a little late since we spent so much quality time pouring over these pages together!! Wonderful!! ( )

This is one of my very favorite books to share with a child. We can sit for hours talking about the pictures. ( )

Great example of what they call a "twice told story": the text says one thing and the illustrations add another layer. Why did I not have this in my life as a child? I could have spent hours poring over each beautiful page.

Note: If reading on the computer, best read in a 2-page-per-screen format. The images link together. ( )

This book could be used as a read aloud in a kindergarten class to teach children words associated with each letter of the alphabet. The read aloud would model fluent reading, proper pronunciation, and would help in presenting new, more difficult vocabulary to new readers. This book could also be used as a model text in a second through fifth grade classroom. The students should be able to access this book when working on individual or group writings for aid with adjectives or alliteration. This book would be a good model text because of its many examples and its ability to be reproduced.

There are not enough words of praise for this fastastic children's book that will appeal to adults as well. It's a large hard cover book with the most amazing, detailed, intricate illustrations you can imagine, stunningly done. Each has hidden things in it. This is an most unusual alphabet book, so the hidden items each begin with the letter being depicted on that page. The illustrations are silly and beautiful at the same time. Children love silly, so there's plenty of fuel for their imaginations in this book. I can't stop looking at it. The art work is simply gorgeous. The book is way above most children's books. Please expose your children to this quality of art. ( )

From the armoured armadillos avoiding the angry alligators to the zany zebras zigzagging in zinc zeppelins, the animals in this imaginative alphabet book put on quite a show. Each letter is alliteratively exemplified in both text and image, with any number of other objects and animals, besides the main ones that are actually named, hiding in the artwork. The result is a book that rewards a closer examination, and that will provide young children with hours of amusement as they pore over the illustrations.

First published in 1986, and then reprinted in this 25th Anniversary Edition, Animalia took Australian author/illustrator Graeme Base three years to create, and it is not difficult to see why. The artwork is gorgeously detailed, with so many little objects hidden away in its depths. This anniversary edition includes a poster on the reverse side of the dust-jacket that contains a riddle needing solving, giving young children even more to keep them entertained. Recommended to anyone looking for fun alphabet books, as well as to those searching for picture-books that provide a more interactive experience for young children. ( )

This is a highly engaging book, that takes alliteration to the next level. Each page is beautifully illustrated with lots of images all related to the letter of the page. Every time I look through this book, I find something new. On top of that the author "hid himself" on each page, so there is an extra level of engagement in finding him. This is a great book for introducing the concept of alliteration to children ( )

This is a fascinating book that portrays the alphabet through beautiful illustrations, one for each of the twenty-six letters in the alphabet. Each illustration features an animal and a poem that uses the letter portrayed in each page. On each picture spread are pictures of many other objects that all start with the same letter as the letter of the page. Each page is so full of unique and captivating images that readers can flip through it many times and each time discover something new.

This is an essential for every early elementary classroom but can be enjoyed by all readers! This book can be used as a way to teach the alphabet, keeping students engaged by trying to find all the different objects that start with the letter. Students will be enthralled by the beautiful illustrations and the fun game that it is to look at each picture spread to find out objects. For upper elementary students, this would be an ideal book to teach about alliterations and have students create their own alliterations based off of what they see on each page.

Awards:
Young Australian's Best Book Award (1987 Best Picture Story Book)
1987 Picture Book of the Year
Kid's Own Australian Literature Award (1988 Picture Book Winner)

Award Description:
Young Australian's Best Book Award (1987 Best Picture Story Book): The Young Australians Best Book Awards (YABBA) were established in 1985 by a group of Victorians hoping to engage children in reading Australian books.The YABBA Awards encourages children to recommend recent Australian published books, read all the recommendations for their peers, rate them against all others and then finally reward that book they feel is best.

1987 Picture Book of the Year: This award has been presented occasionally since 1955 by the Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA). The Award is made to outstanding books of the Picture Book genre in which the author and illustrator achieve artistic and literary unity, or, in wordless picture books, where the story, theme or concept is unified through illustrations.

Kid's Own Australian Literature Award (1988 Picture Book Winner): Given by KOALA – the Kids Own Australian Literature Awards – this award began in 1986. It was the creation of a group of volunteers who desired to hear children’s opinions and the promote of Australian books and authors.

APA citation:
Base, G. (1987). Animalia. New York: H.N. Abrams. ( )

Animalia presents each letter of the alphabet in order with a page dedicated to each letter. The book uses alliteration and vivid imagery to show many words that all start with the same letter. On each page of the book, every small image in the collective picture starts with the letter presented on the page. The author has also included a hidden picture of himself on each page for readers to find.

I love this book because it is extremely colorful and vivid. It uses alliteration in an amusing way and it is so much fun to look at the pictures and try to figure out how all of them will start with the letter on the page.

This book could be a great tool to teach alliteration to children. Children could look at the pages and try to figure out what is special about how the book is written. It could be fun for the children to try and think of more things that could go on the page that start with the given letter. ( )

Love the pictures. The worlds are spectacular.

Too overwhelming for me. ?áI might have enjoyed it when my eyesight was perfectly correctable, but maybe not. ?áEvery image is as bright?á& 'in-your-face'?áas every other, there's no perspective, no way to see what's going on, if anything is. ?áIt's like a pretty Richard Scarry word book, and I could never stand those. ?áIt's also possible that I could enjoy it as posters or shrunk a bit, but the very large size of this book demanded it be held at just the wrong distance from my face. ?áStill, it is clever, and the pix are pretty, so I won't rate it too low....


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love the pictures!!! ( )

I have loved this book since fourth grade when we used it in school to improve our vocabulary.

Awesome alphabet book especially for older students, great for teaching alliteration and imagery, would be a really fun warm-up or teamwork activity (copy a page for students to find as many things in the picture that begin with that letter).