ANIMALS

Ingela P. Arrhenius' Animals is one of the most striking books I have ever seen. I picked it up a few weeks ago and immediately wanted to buy three copies: one for reading and two for ripping out every page (I need both sides) and framing them on my walls. Basically, this book is GORGEOUS.

The book is large--by far, the largest book I have--which only enhances the feeling of awe you feel when you flip through it. I'm happy to say it's not an alphabet book. There's seemingly no rhyme or reason to the 32 animals that are chosen or the order they're presented in. And it's not a concept book, either. It just is. And honestly, it's refreshing. 

The illustrations are bold and colorful, full of fascinating shapes and fonts that make each animal pop out against its background. The best part is that we get to explore animals we wouldn't necessarily otherwise see in, say, an alphabet book. With alphabet books, we're limited to a certain number of animals per letter--we want each letter to feel balanced. But with this book, we get to see cows and cats, rabbits and roosters. There's no limit to what we might experience.