Whose bones? by Chihiro Takeuchi
Berbay Publishing, 2020. ISBN: 9780648785163.
(Age: 3+) Highly recommended. A most amazing book to read and
reread, impelling readers to look closely at the illustrations,
urging them to ask questions. Each set of bones is changed into an
animal, bird or human when the page is turned. Children will be
eager to recognise the being from the bones, while over the page
shows the animal and its bones all arranged together. Readers will
eye off the number of hands, piece together the bones that may be
the back bone, look for the skull and so derive some idea of what it
may be. All questioning, all enticing, all making those thought
processes work overtime. Children will be made more aware of the
skeletons that make up vertebrates of the world, make observations
about their own skeletons, look for pictures which give more
information, tantalised by this book and the openings it offers.
The single hued pages give a clear image of the bones, firstly paid
out like a puzzle, then put in their correct order with a similar
image of the animal beside it. The colours used accentuate the bones
encouraging young readers to look more closely, and be
in awe of the artist who is able to cut out such shapes with
accuracy. Again younger readers (and others) will be enthusiastic to
try out their own skills.
The pages for vertebrates: snake, lion, crocodile, koala, elephant,
flamingo and whale follow the same pattern, and these are followed
by a double page with six more to puzzle over. At the end of the
book is a double page with information about each of the vertebrates
shown, and I love the end papers, with the human skeletons at one
end and a filled in version of little people at the other.
This is a book which will inform and delight, introducing younger
readers to the idea of vertebrates and their skeletons, encouraging
a lifelong interest in science.
Themes: Vertebrates, Animals, STEM, Humour.
Fran Knight