Where Did They Go?

Reviewed by: Melissa Madigan MB - Merrill Memorial Library, Yarmouth, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: February 6, 2017

Review

This "seek-and-find" style book is a beautifully rendered and creatively imagined exploration of critically endangered animals. Structured like any typical spotting book, each page depicts a landscape with one animal blending in with its surroundings. The search aspect, however, comes with a twist: each animal is truly difficult to find, not only inside the book, but in the realm of the real world. The book explores a sizable collection of animals, from giant pandas to sloths, red squirrels to gray wolves, with a rhyming poem introducing and describing each one. The back of the book features a glossary with an enlarged picture of the animals, along with a deeper description of their habitat and why there are so few of them left. I found this idea to be quite a profound and clever way to introduce the idea of endangered species to children, as the concept and wording are easy to grasp even for young readers. This book comes at a pivotal point in our history, as we enter an age of unbridled environmental destruction throughout the world. I loved this idea not only for its lovely illustrations and straightforward text, but for the impact it could have on an entire generation. One of the best picture books I've seen.

Overall Book Score: excellent