There’s something about the axolotl that’s capturing the imaginations of children’s book authors. Is it the feathery gills? The ability to regenerate lost body parts? The fact that axolotl is really fun to say? These aquatic salamanders have inspired countless recent picture books; my favorite is Kate Messner and Lian Cho’s Axolotl-Ella: A Sort-of Cinderella Story (Ten Speed Press, June 2), in which the title character leaves behind not a glass slipper but one of her arms. Close behind the axolotl is the capybara, the world’s largest rodent, known for its laid-back temperament—and now for its starring role in numerous kids’ books, among them Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen and Anne Appert’s Happybaras (Little, Brown, July 7), an opposites-attract friendship tale marked by supremely clever wordplay.
Axolotls and capybaras may rule the roost today, but based on the recent crop of animal picture books, I predict some competition on the horizon. First up: eels. What they lack in cuddliness they make up for with an air of enigma, as Nicholas Day observes in A Riddle of Eels, illustrated by Corey R. Tabor (Random House Studio, Sept. 8). For centuries, philosophers and scientists have attempted to shed light on these creatures, yet mysteries persist (their exact lifespan and reproduction habits, for instance). Day raises questions rather than answering them; this is a thought-provoking meditation on knowledge itself that will leave readers excited to seek out—and solve—other mysteries.
Spiders typically elicit shudders, but Chris Baker’s Weaver and the Web (Godwin Books, July 7), illustrated by Byron Eggenschwiler, just may convince readers to see them in a new light. Our protagonist, a spotted orbweaver, isn’t exactly cute, but she is truly striking. More importantly, she’s a gifted artist, crafting her web with the same care a painter might take with their canvas…and diligently remaking her masterpiece after it’s accidentally destroyed by humans. Often unfairly maligned, spiders have ideal PR reps in Baker and Eggenschwiler; not since Charlotte’s Web have we seen such an admirable arachnid.
Viewed by some as harbingers of death or bad luck, corvids, too, know what it’s like to get bad press. Gideon Sterer’s Gifts From Crows, illustrated by Shadra Strickland (Clarion/HarperCollins, Aug. 18), shows readers a different side of these birds: their loyalty. Sterer tells the story of a real-life Seattle girl, Gabi Mann, who in 2011 began leaving food for local crows; in return, they left buttons, screws, and other trinkets on her lawn. The author bolsters his compelling narrative with facts about these birds’ intelligence and their rich social lives (they even hold funerals for their deceased).
Can a brainless, spineless animal captivate youngsters? Absolutely—readers of Carole Boston Weatherford’s Fourteen Ways of Looking at Jellyfish (Candlewick, May 26) will be awestruck. Lovingly crafted poems explore different facets of these sea creatures: their long history (“three times / as ancient as dinosaurs”), their gracefulness (“slow-motion water ballet”), and the danger that the box jellyfish’s beauty belies (they “kill more humans than sharks do”). Weatherford’s verse varies in tone, from contemplative to theatrical; illustrator Bagram Ibatoulline matches her words with wildly diverse artistic styles.
Mahnaz Dar is a young readers’ editor.
