Children's Literature @ NYPL

Booktalking "Dear Wandering Wildebeest" by Irene Latham

African animals grace the pages of this thoughtfully illustrated book.

Water holes sate the thirst of animals of different colors and species. Impalas leap and dance through the grass. Meerkats keep an eye on the landscape. Snakes slink through the trees. Symbiotic oxpeckers clean other animals in order to snatch a meal. Giraffes contort themselves into position at the drinking place. Moving stripes on zebras confuse predators. Wildebeest travel and drink, eat and stampede. Vultures find any fallen animals that they can to munch on. Rhinos are vegetarians, and they cannot see well.

Dear Wandering Wildebeest by Irene Latham, 2014

I like the nonfiction text that accompanies each poem. Also, the fact that each double-page spread has a different base color is visually striking.