Lots of Spots

Ehlert returns to the territory of her Oodles of Animals (2008) with another illustrated collection of animal-inspired rhymes. The title is a bit of a misnomer, as not all the creatures within have spots; rather, the book focuses on how spots, stripes, and other markings either distinguish or camouflage various bugs, birds, and beasts. Befitting that agenda, Ehlert's mixed-media collages tend more toward the true animal hues found in nature than some of her previous books. The layers of handmade paper--brightly colored and often richly textured--that form each critter, crisply arranged on a white background, lend a sense of up-close immediacy. The very brief verses vacillate between silly ("If a woodpecker would peck/ holes in a wood deck, / the whole deck, I suspect, / would be holey-wrecked.") and matter-of-fact ("One barn owl can catch/ more mice and rats/ than a whole family/ of mouser cats."), but all the ditties offer some information about an animal's coloring or behavior. Budding naturalists and animal lovers of a broad range will surely be amused. Ages 37. (July) Copyright 2010 Publishers Weekly Used with permission.

K-Gr 2--In keeping with her traditional bold, collage illustrations, Ehlert portrays an array of animals with spots and stripes. Each one is described in a catchy, four-line rhyme. The subjects include a wood duck, an iguana, a turtle, a goose, a goat, a Dalmatian, and a cow, among others. Lots of Spots would make a good addition to an author/illustrator unit on Ehlert's work, but its stand-alone value as a poetry or animal book falls short of remarkable.--Lindsay Persohn, Crystal Lake Elementary, Lakeland, FL

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

* "Captivating...the poems...manage to convey a great deal of factual information in addition to bits of whimsy...This engaging work would be very effective as a read-aloud and will be even more effective when paired with nonfiction titles. Highly Recommended."—Library Media Connection, starred review