Overview
In this award-winning picture book, evocatively illustrated wood engravings combine with stirring poems to celebrate the lives and commemorate the deaths of 20 of the hundreds of animals that have gone extinct over the last three centuries.Contains poems about the world's extinct animals.
Synopsis
In this award-winning picture book, evocatively illustrated wood engravings combine with stirring poems to celebrate the lives and commemorate the deaths of 20 of the hundreds of animals that have gone extinct over the last three centuries.
Publishers Weekly
Paying homage to extinct animals, Wormell's (An Alphabet of Animals) extraordinary wood engravings for this handsomely designed, oversize volume may exceed the expectations of even his most ardent admirers. A Bali tiger with black velvet stripes, the finely etched wings of a laughing owl, the "amazing shell" of the saddleback tortoise-all are rendered with startling beauty, precision and grace. These works accompany 20 poems, each dedicated to a species that has become extinct since 1620. Lewis (The Last Resort) writes that these are intended as "a few small epitaphs in verse to mark their passing"; he also warns that six animal species die every hour. Unfortunately, Lewis's generally clever, highly crafted verse is here so crammed with details, that the rhyme scheme and sense often seem forced: "Discovered, 1741,/ [Steller's sea cow] dwarfed all creatures of the sea,/ Except the whale, so let us toast/ Sea cows in their enormity." The tone is uniformly solemn and often accusatory: "Sixty million improbable years-/ The Elephant Bird's timespan-/ Till the Elephant Bird, the Elephant Bird/ Met up with the likes of Man." A timeline at the bottom of each page mixes idiosyncratic historical facts-e.g., the date of the first bottled Coca-Cola or of Babe Ruth's first homer-along with details about the destruction of various species. Endnotes answer many of the questions the poems are sure to raise. Ages 9-up. (Oct.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly
Paying homage to extinct animals, Wormell's (An Alphabet of Animals) extraordinary wood engravings for this handsomely designed, oversize volume may exceed the expectations of even his most ardent admirers. A Bali tiger with black velvet stripes, the finely etched wings of a laughing owl, the "amazing shell" of the saddleback tortoise-all are rendered with startling beauty, precision and grace. These works accompany 20 poems, each dedicated to a species that has become extinct since 1620. Lewis (The Last Resort) writes that these are intended as "a few small epitaphs in verse to mark their passing"; he also warns that six animal species die every hour. Unfortunately, Lewis's generally clever, highly crafted verse is here so crammed with details, that the rhyme scheme and sense often seem forced: "Discovered, 1741,/ [Steller's sea cow] dwarfed all creatures of the sea,/ Except the whale, so let us toast/ Sea cows in their enormity." The tone is uniformly solemn and often accusatory: "Sixty million improbable years-/ The Elephant Bird's timespan-/ Till the Elephant Bird, the Elephant Bird/ Met up with the likes of Man." A timeline at the bottom of each page mixes idiosyncratic historical facts-e.g., the date of the first bottled Coca-Cola or of Babe Ruth's first homer-along with details about the destruction of various species. Endnotes answer many of the questions the poems are sure to raise. Ages 9-up. (Oct.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.Children's Literature
Lewis's foreword notes that his poems are about the "recently departed" among the many extinct species, "a few small epitaphs in verse to mark their passing." He celebrates twenty-two vanished species in brief verses, mainly in natural, unforced rhyme filled with evocative language, occasional humor, and sincere emotion, begging to be read aloud. Each creature is brought distinctly to life before its death; each line is quotable. The scientific name, date and place of extinction of each are atop the pages, while a timeline of concurrent world events runs across the bottoms. Black woodcuts offer portraits of each creature with a bit of context: the dodo on an island beach; the great auk on a cliff overlooking the ocean; the eastern elk on a cliff amid the mountains. Wormell's illustrations are reminiscent of the wood engravings of the 18th century in their simple elegance and attention to character. The entire book with its heavy paper stock, eye-appealing design, understated binding and subtle paper jacket stands out for its esthetic appeal. Notes give further information on each creature and its fate. 2003, Creative Editions, Ages 8 to Adult.— Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz