A review by emkoshka
Animalia by Graeme Base

4.0

This was a perennial favourite when I was a child for its densely illustrated pages of animals, clever wordplay and puzzle challenges. Rereading it as an adult, the artwork is less striking than I remember although the 'Lazy lions lounging in the local library' page remains every bit as lush as ever; it's definitely the best piece of art in the book. It was enjoyable to use an adult's vocabulary to find a few things I'd missed as a child but the challenge wasn't really there anymore. Still, Animalia remains an exceptional way to instil in children a love of animals and increase their vocabulary manifold. Though I feel for the child who turns up to school one day bandying around words like 'diabolical', 'preening','rickety' and 'zeppelin'...