Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 07/01/2019 There are so many creatures in this menagerie that they cannot be contained within typical book boundaries. A variety of animals parades across the back and front covers, monkeys fill the endpapers, and the narrative begins on the front flap. A curious circus monkey questions a top-hatted ringmaster about what to call various groups of animals. The ringmaster launches into a litany of collective nouns, delighting in the more exotic phrases such as a tower of giraffes, a scurry of squirrels, and a flamboyance of flamingos. The back matter notes that the names assigned were “often playful or poetic references to the animals’ behavior, characteristics, or appearance.” Collage art humorously illuminates the word meanings, employing paper cut from catalogs, old books, receipts, letters, and ticket stubs. A parliament of owls is depicted wearing formal wigs and cravats, while a lounge of lizards enjoys sunshine and cool drinks. The lighthearted, layered illustrations and alliterative text make studying grammar almost as much fun as that barrel of monkeys depicted in the final spread! - Copyright 2019 Booklist.