THE QUEEN’S SHADOW: A STORY ABOUT HOW ANIMALS SEE by Cybele Young is a beautifully illustrated informational picture book. When the Queen’s shadow is stolen, each creature contributes a piece of evidence that helps to solve the crime.
Designed for ages 7 through 11, the ingenious story masterfully incorporates factual information about animal sight while telling an engaging story.
Young weaves together distinctive collages of digital, pen-and-ink illustrations. Of particular note are the close-ups demonstrating how animals such as the pigeon sees.
Younger children may have difficulty distinguishing the factual information about vision from the imaginary aspects related to losing a shadow. As such, this is a book that would work better in a small group learning environment than as a book for independent reading.
At the end of the book, factual information is provided about how vision works along with descriptions of the animals in the book. The backmatter also includes a useful glossary.
This informational picture book provides endless possibilities for library-classroom partnerships. Involve children in writing their own stories about how animals see. Or, ask them to research other animals senses and write detective stories about those.
Available March 1, 2015 and published by Kids Can Press, a NetGalley ARC was used for the review.
