KIRKUS - August 1, 2024 (starred review)
Bold graphics with “I spy” die cuts deliver a compelling call to save endangered and threatened species.
Seeger is well established as a master of the concept book, and her latest offering lives up to this reputation for excellence. It reads like a mashup of her earlier titles The Hidden Alphabet (2003) and Green (2012); she adopts a layout similar to the former and an ecological ethos like the latter while presenting the numbers 10 through one.
The first spread shows the word ten on the verso in sans serif knockout type against a murky backdrop, while the facing page depicts the numeral 10 organically formed by the hazy background, revealed through a die-cut window in a brown gatefold page. When the gatefold is lifted vertically, the 10 appears as part of a reflective, watery setting where 10 sea otters huddle, adorably gazing out at readers. Ensuing spreads continue this pattern, showing nine elephants (the 9 formed by a pachyderm’s trunk), eight giraffes (the 8 appearing in markings on the animal’s fur), and so on.
Seeger’s choice of a countdown provides a subtle message about the dwindling numbers of the portrayed animals, all of which, according to the backmatter, are “threatened or endangered, some critically.” Thumbnails with additional facts about the animals round out this artful, necessary picture book.
Count on Seeger for powerful, accessible art for young readers. (Picture book. 2-6)
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (starred review)
Counting down from 10 to one, Vaccaro Seeger (The Hidden Alphabet) offers readers concept-based puzzles both visual and tactile.
Each spread features a number’s word form on the verso, set in chunky, translucent type against an unidentified habitat. On the recto, readers can guess the animal inhabitant based on textures peeking through a small, square die-cut window, which reveals a pattern that resembles the appropriate attending numeral. “Nine,” for example, appears against a grassy plain rendered in luscious smears of yellows, golds, and browns. The window in the deep red flap opposite reveals the numeral 9 in the shape of—could that be a tail? No, opening the flap reveals; it’s a curled trunk belonging to one of nine pictured elephants.
These consistently inventive visuals, together with touching animal characterizations—the creatures, all threatened or endangered, often gaze directly into readers’ eyes—and pages made of heavy, smooth paper, make this book intriguing to both hold and behold. Back matter provides additional detail on each species. Ages 4–8. (Oct.)
SHELF AWARENESS (starred review)
Does Laura Vaccaro Seeger's inventiveness never cease? In Green, Blue, and Red, the two-time Caldecott Honoree employed a die-cut technique to frame and pay tribute to, among other things, aspects of the natural world. In Animal Countdown, she uses flaps to create a peekaboo-style game that can introduce the youngest readers to counting basics while raising awareness about vulnerable animals to boot.
In the book's first spread, its left side presents the word "ten" against what looks kind of like blue-and-white marbling. This faces a full-page flat-brown panel out of which a small rectangle has been cut, exposing more marbling in which can be discerned a blue numeral 10. What could the big brown flap be hiding? Small fingers will be able to effortlessly flip the flap to uncover 10 furry-headed, bewhiskered pals: "sea otters." The blue-and-white stuff? It's the otters' frothy, watery home. On it goes, from "ten" down to "one." For that final spread, a black numeral "1" on what looks like white fur turns out to be the markings on a lone snow leopard's nose.
Seeger's mixed-media art manages to be painterly but approachable, the animal depictions realistic but something a toddler would welcome in stuffed-animal form. A companion to Seeger's conceptually similar The Hidden Alphabet, Animal Countdown concludes with news that all the featured animals are either endangered or threatened. Generous back matter illuminates the creatures' distinctive qualities; perhaps this will inspire readers of all ages to try to head off a countdown to animal extinction. --Nell Beram, freelance writer and YA author
Discover: This inventive picture book uses flaps to create a peekaboo-style game that can introduce the youngest readers to counting basics while raising awareness about vulnerable animals.
HORN BOOK (starred review)
These lift-the-flap books by Seeger (Red, rev. 11/21, and many others) creatively showcase threatened or endangered creatures (Countdown) and the ABCs (Alphabet; a 2003 reissue, rev. 1/04).
In Countdown, left-hand pages present a spelled-out number, beginning with ten and counting down to one, on a textured mixed-media background that hints at a habitat. Right-hand pages (which lift up) are matte colors with square or rectangular die-cuts revealing additional glimpses of the scene below—and in the general shape of the numeral being highlighted. The number nine, for example, shows a glimpse of an elephant’s curled trunk, and eight is the negative space of a giraffe’s markings. They’re not all obvious; careful looking and use of imagination are bonuses, and additional creature facts are appended.
Alphabet goes from a to z, with clean black backgrounds and a word on every page (arrowhead, balloons, yolk, zipper). From Lolly Robinson’s January/February 2004 Magazine review: “Lift the flaps and foreground turns background as pictured images become the negative space defining the letter form…This is great bookmaking, and a snazzy—though sophisticated—addition to the alphabet bookshelf.”
Sturdy flaps; thoughtfully placed and sized die cuts; abundant surprises; and visual delights make both volumes welcome and artistically elevated concept books.
WALL STREET JOURNAL (featured best book for Fall ‘24)
Young readers can master counting down from 10 while learning about some of the world's most endangered animals in author-artist Seeger's marvelously illustrated lift-the-flap book. For the youngest readers, the mixed-media illustrations and the fun of lifting the flaps will be the draw. But the book also works for older children, as Seeger, a two-time Caldecott honoree, provides brief write-ups about each of the 10 animals she highlights and why they are threatened. (Ages 3-6, Neal Porter, Oct. 1) - KM