View source for Why The Animals Came To Town by Michael Foreman

{{infobox2
|title=Why The Animals Came To Town
|author=Michael Foreman
|reviewer=Keith Dudhnath
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=It's a Michael Foreman picture book about a serious topic (environmentalism) so it should be wonderful, but there's something about the text that doesn't quite click. It's not the worst book in the world, but he's done much better.
|rating=3.5
|buy=Maybe
|borrow=Yes
|pages=32
|publisher=Walker
|date=January 2010
|isbn=978-1406318012
|aznuk=1406318019
|aznus=1406318019
|cover=1406318019
|website=http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=authc2d9c28a02840211b9qkg2895c82
}}

A young boy looks out of his bedroom window and sees a parade of animals walking up his street. They've come to show him the deserts and ice caps, to warn him of the importance of taking care of Earth. Without the animals, he realises the world would be a much more desolate place.

Parades of animals always work well in picture books. It's great to see children learning an important environmental message from early on. Michael Foreman is a marvellous illustrator whose work is always of the highest quality. All the elements are here for a classic tale that every child would love. So why am I not raving about it? The message seems both too simple and also too abstruse. ''Save all the animals''. Great idea. How? It doesn't need to provide all the answers, but it's lacking something for even the youngest readers to really get their teeth into.

I wasn't blown away by the text either. There's a gentle sense of rhyme throughout, but there's nothing that grabs the reader and has the young 'uns joining in with the story. It all flows pleasantly enough, but it doesn't have Michael Foreman's usual great use of language. Everything's all fine and nice, and I don't think it's a case of expecting perfection from a big name, but there are better picture books out there.

The illustrations are the strongest part of the book. All of the animals have their own individual characteristics, and there's a nice mix of the familiar and less familiar. The pastel/crayon drawings strike a great balance between cute and exciting. They create a pleasant atmosphere which will strike a chord with many.

I wish I liked ''Why The Animals Came To Town'' more. It's not a bad book by any means, and may well click with you, but it's not as good as it could have been.

My thanks to the publishers for sending it to Bookbag.

[[War Game by Michael Foreman|War Game]] and [[A Child's Garden: A Story Of Hope by Michael Foreman|A Child's Garden]] are Michael Foreman at his best. For other books with an environmental message, check out [[The Trouble with Dragons by Debi Gliori]] and [[10 Things I Can Do To Help My World by Melanie Walsh]].

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