PreS-Gr 2-In this eye-popping book illustrated with cut- and torn-paper collages, animals leap, swim, slide, swing, and waddle. Each spread contains one action word and two animals for whom that behavior is typical. One of the animals turns up again on the next page alongside a different creature, both of them representing another kind of motion. For example, on one side a crocodile slithers into the water opposite a snake slithering through leaves; with the turn, the snake climbs a tree and a praying mantis climbs a blade of grass. The information will pique readers' interest. Jenkins uses brief phrases as captions and provides a well-written, concise appendix. A sharp-headed, blue-eyed bird hovers over the caption, "A roadrunner flies, but not too far-." On the next page, the bird, clasping a lizard in its beak, sprints away to the words, "-it would rather run to catch its prey." The end matter explains where the roadrunner lives, what it eats, how large it is, and why it is more suited to running than flying. This book is gorgeous and educational.-Susan Weitz, formerly at Spencer-Van Etten School District, Spencer, NY Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

In this lively collaboration by spouses Jenkins and Page, a host of animal movements are sure to leave children wanting to imitate the animals' swinging, waddling, and jumping actions. Jenkins' signature paper collages, boldly set against white backgrounds, illustrate each of two actions per animal; these are preceded and followed by parallel movements performed by different animals. A jacana a waterbird walks on floating lily pads . . . reads a right-hand page. The page turn completes the sentence: then dives to catch a fish. The blue whale pictured alongside dives, too, but the next page reveals that it also swims, just like the adjacent armadillo. The running text arcs around the images, often mimicking the featured movement, which also appears in large, boldface type on each spread. The text ends with an invitation--Move!--accompanied by a picture of bare human feet. Further information about each animal concludes, indicating sizes for readers who may find the pictures' inaccurate scale confusing. Use this as part of a storytime-with-movement, perhaps alongside Karen Pandell's Animal Action ABC (1996).

One by one, twelve animals move across the pages, with overlapping modes of locomotion. A gibbon swings through the jungle but also walks on two legs; a jacana walks on lily pads but also dives in the water; a blue whale dives before it swims; and so on. Jenkins's cut-paper collages reinforce the action and beg listeners to identify both the creatures and the verbs.

Textured collages array themselves across gracious expanses of white space in Jenkins's trademark clean design. As the title suggests, the concept under examination is the way animals move, from a gibbon who "swings through the jungle trees . . . [and] walks on two back legs" to a penguin who "slides—splash!—into the sea . . . and waddles with its colony." Each animal's second mode of locomotion leads to the next animal's first, so the leaping, slithering crocodile gives way to the slithering, climbing snake. It's a characteristically gorgeous offering, but one whose simplicity is occasionally at war with its delivery, given the suggested audience of preschoolers. The jacana (a southern African wading bird), for instance, is presented with no pronunciation guide, and the aforementioned "colony" of penguins is not defined. Each animal is presented in thumbnail at the end, with an accompanying paragraph explaining habitat, habits and size, but these do not serve to fill in the informational gaps in the main narrative. These flaws notwithstanding, there's no denying that this is an extraordinarily pretty and child-friendly package. (Picture book/nonfiction. 2-5)