and funny with lovely illustrations, Poor Zebras! : Charming illustrations, adorable "facts" about the animals, I related most to the grumpy chipmunk with a mug of coffee for "C," but I also loved the baby lion taking a nap on his dad's head.
From the author of the beloved This Is Sadie comes a delightful book of curious, littleknown stories about animals one for each letter of the alphabet!
Did you know that chipmunks love to stay up past their bedtime Or that dragons cry at happy endings I bet you'd never have guessed that iguanas sometimes get homesick at sleepovers.
Sara O'Leary pulls back the curtain on the animal world and gives us absolutely charming little oneline "facts" about an animal for each letter of the alphabet.
Kids will love to see their own quirks reflected in these adorablyrendered creatures, and perhaps will be comforted to know that, just like them, narwhals can be perfectly happy all on their own and quail also get tired of being told to be quiet.
This is more than just an alphabet book it is a charming, hilarious and touching look at the diversity of personalities in the world, worth many, many rereads.
Funny alphabet book. Hilarious. Received the book as part of the early reviewers program, The illustrations are absolutely charming with a soft slightly desaturarted colour palette, It's a traditional ABC book with one page per letter shown in upper and lower case, accompanied by a "fact" about each animal, most of which aren't true I suspect lions particularly do like napping.
It's not fantastical enough to be obviously fantasy to a young child, so I'd hesitate on this onethe literalist in me would haveaccepted that, for instance, "alligators think you'd like them if you got to know them" as a child, whereas I'm fairly sure now most alligators don't give humans a second thought.
Further, it's only the animal that's connected to the letter, so you don't get that reinforcement of letters as you would with, say, "alligators adore all art," to make up an example.
My gold standard for alphabet books is Whatley's Quest which has no words and lets you hunt through a beautiful, richlystuffed image for as many appropriate words matching the letter as you can come up with.
Adorable illustrations! My favorite pages are W wolves dont like being told to smile, . . the foxes who always want one more photo make a second appearance and Z the zebra with the toy is just so cute!, The end papers are neat front is upper case letters with animals hiding, back is lowercase letters with animals in front, Too precious for words. Great illustrations in this alphabet book, It fell flat for me with the "facts" that were presented for the individual animals, which really weren't facts, or were halffacts, I kept thinking that literalthinking kids would actually think that chipmunks like to stay up after their bedtime, because zebras want to be first, Once. “Owls Are Good at Keeping Secrets" is one of the best alphabet books that I have ever read, The illustrations are fantastic, its not too long, and it has the perfect ending, I plan on buying it, six out of five Canadian author Sara O'Leary and American illustrator Jacob Grant join forces in this entertaining alphabet book, offering a snapshot depiction of twentysix different animals.
From the titular owls, who cannot keep a secret, to the stargazing hedgehogs, who can't help being curious, each animal here has its own unique quality.
. .
Having enjoyed other books from both O'Leary sitelinkThis Is Sadie, sitelinkA Family Is a Family Is a Family and Grant sitelinkCat Knit, sitelinkBear's Scare, I was sure I would enjoy Owls Are Good at Keeping Secrets: An Unusual Alphabet, and I was not wrong.
The animal characteristics were sometimes quite apt elephants being happiest at bedtime, toads being good at tongue twisters and adorable artwork, this was a lot of fun to read! Recommended to young animal lovers, particularly those in the market for entertaining alphabet books.
Dollycass Thoughts
A fascinating story about animals AZ that any youngster will love!
Adorable illustrations and cute inside tips about animals
from alligators to jellyfish to zebras shine within these pages.
The title just gives you a sample,
A fun way to learn and practice the alphabet,
Arriving just in time for Christmas giving!
A perfect addition to a little ones bookshelf,
A story that will be read over and over again! "Owls are Good at Keeping Secrets" is an adorable book, perfect for kids who are learning their letters and spelling.
My girls are three so we spend a lot of time on recognizing letters and talking about what words start with which letters, This book is filled with funny phrases that had my girls laughing, I love books that are a good blend of fun and learning and this is definitely one of those!
I also have to mention the art in the book.
The illustrations are gorgeous with adorable animals and nice vivid colors, My girls spent a lot of time looking at the pictures!
This was a very enjoyable book! This is my new FAVORITEST alphabet book and I book that I will have to own.
DH and I read it to Mister, then I read it with Madam last night, All of us LOVED it, The pictures are adorably whimsical and quite hilarious in the details check out those foxes snapping pics! hooray for the power of belief! and I am so WITH that chipmunk parent who is obviously OVER IT all.
Read this. You will be doing yourself a favor, A slightly different alphabet book than most where the animal characters for each letter tell a small story, Unique and interesting with lovely illustrations, Some unusual animals make it into the story bringing in an element of fun, A good pick in the ocean of alphabet books,
I received this book in exchange for an honest review, With softlycolored illustrations set out against plentiful white space, this picture book serves up theletters of the alphabet in a unique way, Each letter features an animal, something is typical for this sort of book, but with a twist, The text tells littleknown "facts" about the creatures for instance, that dragons weep when the stories they read have happy endings and that meerkats are thrilled when there is a parade.
The book starts with alligators and ends with zebras, and while there might be some slight truth to the observations that are shared, they are probably not true at all.
Still, they get readers to thinking, I'm sure those poor old zebras, who always bring up the alphabetical rear, would love the chance to go first just one time, It would be fun to share this with youngsters even while reminding them that all of this is imagined, Still, it might prompt a
little more understanding toward some of the animalsand that can't be a bad thing, What a bizzare but kind of charming book, It goes through the alphabet, assigning an alphabet to each letter, But then it shares a "fun fact" about each animal that is more a social commentary, as if the animals were people ie foxes always want to take one more picture, meerkats like throwing parades.
But the illustrations are in that soft palette that I love so much, so while this was odd, I really enjoyed it, And some of the lines made me "awww" like how Zebras would love to be first, just once, Unicorns believe in themselves! A very clever alphabet book with some fun "facts" about each of its letters protagonists, Owls Are Good at Keeping Secrets is an alphabet book full of animals and madeup animal traits, The illustrations are beautiful and really add to the text of the book, Unfortunately, this book just fell flat for me, A good alphabet book is difficult to write and assemble, There is nothing to connect between letters which makes it too disjointed for a good readaloud, It is a cute and silly alphabet book but lacks any cohesiveness,
Thank you to LibraryThing and Tundra Books for a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review,clever entries illustrated with equally appealing art, This alphabet book didn't shine for me, Needed more color, more humor, . . something to engage the reader, With such a great title, quirky illustrations, and a fun concept this book fell so flat it's depressing, I hoped and wished, but this sadly is a oneoff title, . if that. Owls are Good at Keeping Secrets: An Unusual Alphabet by Sara OLeary, illustrated by Jacob Grant, PICTURE BOOK. Random House,
BUYING ADVISORY: EL KESSENTIAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
For each letter in the alphabet we learn a secret about the motivations and behaviors of animals.
Often these secrets sound a lot like a secret a human child might be harboring as well, Some of the secrets are obvious and some are quirky and some are outright funny,
I giggled my way through this book, It was just so delightful to think about the darling imagined nature of animals and the funny ways we personify them in literature and life.
My kids though, found it less amusing than I did,
Jen Wecker, HS English Teacher
sitelink blogspot. com/ my new fav alphabet book! text and pics are soooo adorable and sweet! This book is so cute! I would totally hang posters of half of the pages.
An unusual alphabet book indeed! Each letter is actually a sentence that tells a tiny story "O Owls are good at keeping secrets", This makes the illustrations by Jacob Grant all the more delightful for how they show each visually, Each is basically a vignette illustration in the middle of white space, and I love the unusual edge shapes that help them flow without defined frames.
For artists, this would be a really fun exercise, either to write your own alphabet book or reillustrate this one, How would YOU illustrate "Owls are good at keeping secrets" or "Narwals can be perfectly happy all alone" Owls are good at keeping secrets, meerkats love a parade, unicorns believe in themselves.
. . little readers will learn these and so many other quirky and surprising “facts” about animals in Owls Are Good at Keeping Secrets,
Sara OLearys charming picture book is sure to delight and amuse readers with its giggle inducing facts and unexpected additions, while warming hearts with its joyous celebration of embracing our differences and uniqueness.
Jacob Grant sweetly brings each animal to life and perfectly captures their cute quirks and habits,
Owls Are Good at Keeping Secrets is an engaging and fun way to introduce little readers to the alphabet and is destined to be a bedtime hit sitelink post a comment.
Pick Up Owls Are Good At Keeping Secrets: An Unusual Alphabet Originated By Sara OLeary Displayed As Leaflet
Sara OLeary