Synopsis
The originality, humor, and quick energy of the four previous Animagicals have been greeted with enthusiasm--witty paintings on pull-out pages compared and contrasted animals with transportation, patterns, music, and color, while lively verses expanded and elucidated the art. In these current volumes, the author and the artist, in their inimitable styles, have undertaken to explore the worlds of sports and homes: A tennis racquet turns into a beaver, a spiraled shell into a hermit crab. These unlikely combinations make enormous good sense if, like children, you have an open mind, an imaginative eye, and a belief in the power of Animagicals!
School Library Journal
PreS-Gr 2-Each of these books features Junakovic's artwork on pages that unfold to reveal the answers to Shields's 12 rhyming riddles. The foldout pages are well planned to increase suspense. The rhymes sometimes give clues to the animal's identity while at other times they obscure it, making guessing the answers more challenging. In Homes, the animal dwellings are interesting and eclectic: a shell, an apple (for worms, of course), a beehive, an iceberg, an egg, and a tree. "I like the very same/things as you,/A home that's warm/and comfy too./In fact, I really/like your house,/Thanks for sharing-/with this mouse." Sports adds a touch of humor as children are asked to guess which animals excel at athletics. Some are easy-like a giraffe playing basketball, dolphins diving, and a frog doing the high jump. But others are quite unexpected-a spoonbill playing Ping-Pong, an elephant using his trunk to play ice hockey, and a hippo blocking a soccer goal. The creatures in both books are charming, and the lighthearted rhymes are loaded with child appeal.-Laurie Edwards, formerly at Dauphin County Library System, Harrisburg, PA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.