Baby Animals: Little Ones at Play in 20 Works of Art
by William Lach and Metropolitan Museum of Art
Published by Abrams Books for Young Readers (April release)
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Reviewed by Jamie Driggers
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has more than two million works of art–and a surprising number of them feature baby animals. Utilizing some of these pieces, William Lach, editor at the museum, exposes children to many types of art including a carpet, oil painting, pen and paper, silk embroidery, watercolor, and more.
Lach uses a sweet, lyrical rhyme to accompany the full-page illustrations. The soothing rhythm is good for calming little ones at bedtime and at two words per page, it a quick read for the squirrelly little ones that don’t like to hold still for too long. At the bottom of each page (not part of the rhyming text) is also a line giving the names of baby animals, for example, “Baby crayfish are called hatchlings.”
I’m not sure whether the muted colors of the art works will give little ones a finer appreciation of art, but they will gain exposure to some of the greats like da Vinci and Cassatt and also see that art is more than paint and canvas.
The book is lovely and will make a wonderful addition to any child’s library.
Armchair Interviews agrees.