My Animals by Xavier Deneux - Revision history

Kieran at 15:59, 4 April 2018

2018-04-04T15:59:23Z

Sue at 15:47, 4 January 2015

2015-01-04T15:47:37Z

Keith at 20:43, 11 March 2010

2010-03-11T20:43:37Z

Keith: 1 revision

2009-10-24T17:53:17Z

1 revision

Sue at 18:01, 4 December 2008

2008-12-04T18:01:43Z

New review

{{infobox
|title= My Animals
|author= Xavier Deneux
|reviewer= Sue Magee
|genre=For Sharing
|summary= A sophisticated board book which will appeal to parents and the more thoughtful child, with its limited palette of colours. Cautiously recommended.
|rating=4
|buy= Maybe
|borrow= Yes
|format= Hardback
|pages=24
|publisher= Bloomsbury Publishing plc
|date= February 2009
|isbn=978-0747597100
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0747597103</amazonuk>
|amazonus=<amazonus>0747597103</amazonus>
}}

When I picked this book up, I wanted to stroke it, with its black velvety cover and soft white dog. There's just a splash of colour in an orange butterfly, but nothing else to distract you from the dog with the largest eyes that you have ever seen. The theme is set for a book which is mainly black and white with just the occasional splash of colour. It's chubby; perfect for small hands and with substantial board pages which will stand a lot of affectionate handling.

There's a progression through the book, with a hole through one page revealing something of the next. It's ingeniously done. A twig in the same tree as the bird is revealed on the next page to be the black mouth of a white frog, but looking backwards through another hole, the eye of the cat becomes the eye of the crocodile. It's strangely soothing to move through the book, guessing what you'll find on the next page and how one thing will be transformed into another.

It's definitely a book which will appeal to parents. There's an elegant sophistication about it with its limited palette of colours and it's a real pleasure to handle. For children it might not have staying power although it will intrigue as they see how parts of one picture reappear in another and guess how the flashes of colour will be used. It's a book I'd buy for the more thoughtful child.

The pages have a high gloss finish and the child with whom I shared this book did leave quite a few fingerprints. Happily they wiped away with a dry lens cloth and the book was none the worse for the experience. The holes in each page are well engineered. Inevitably small fingers are going to be pushed through them, but my young companion and I found no rough edges.

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a review copy to the Bookbag.

For more sophisticated paper engineering you'll love [[Abc 3d by Marion Bataille]] but if you want a more colourful board book with cut outs we can recommend [[Are We Nearly There Yet? by Katherine Lodge]] or for a book with tabs, lift-up flaps and pop-ups why not try [[What's That Noise Mr Croc? by Jo Lodge]]?

{{amazontext|amazon=0747597103}} {{waterstonestext|waterstones=6286326}}

{{commenthead}}

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-{{infobox
+{{infobox2
 |title= My Animals
 |author= Xavier Deneux
@@ Line 12: / Line 12: @@
 |date= February 2009
 |isbn=978-0747597100
-|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0747597103</amazonuk>
+|aznuk=0747597103
-|amazonus=<amazonus>0747597103</amazonus>
+|aznus=0747597103
 }}

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 |buy= Maybe
 |borrow= Yes
 |pages=24
 |publisher= Bloomsbury Publishing plc
@@ Line 29: / Line 28: @@
 For more sophisticated paper engineering you'll love [[Abc 3d by Marion Bataille]] but if you want a more colourful board book with cut outs we can recommend [[Are We Nearly There Yet? by Katherine Lodge]] or for a book with tabs, lift-up flaps and pop-ups why not try [[What's That Noise Mr Croc? by Jo Lodge]]? You'll also love the follow-up: [[My Circus by Xavier Deneux]].
-{{amazontext|amazon=0747597103}} {{waterstonestext|waterstones=6286326}}
+{{amazontext|amazon=0747597103}}
 {{commenthead}}

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