Cat Says Meow: And Other Animalopoeia

K-Gr 3—This clever book introduces readers to a wide variety of animals and the noises they make. Readers are exposed to a cacophony of animal sounds, from dogs to mice to crows to squirrels. The most engaging aspect of this book is the use of typography to illustrate the animals. Arndt arranges letters in different sizes and fonts in order to create the shape of subjects. A dog's ear, for example, is composed of a "W," and his mouth is a lowercase "f." The caption on the page reads, "Dog says woof." A mouse's curling tail is an "S," and its other features help to spell out "squeak." Each animal appears in a bold, monochrome color, using white spaces to capture details. The pages are dramatic and uncluttered. Every animal gets its own page, and all of them stand alone against a white background except for the owl, which is a black figure set on a blue page. The very young will find the animal shapes endearing and will delight in saying, "chirp!" and "chomp!" Children who can recognize letters well enough to identify an upside-down, sideways, or stylized letter will also savor this. Those who can spell will make a game out of searching for all the letters in the word "glub" that are hidden inside the shape of a fish. A beautifully crafted and truly stellar book that no library should miss.—Jess deCourcy Hinds, Bard High School Early College, Queens, NY