Better Together: A Book of Family written by Barbara Joosse and Anneke Lisberg and illustrated by Jared Andrew Schorr

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Better Together: A Book of Family by Barbara Joosse and Anneke Lisberg, illustrated with wonderful papercut art by Jared Andrew Schorr is a lift-the-flap book featuring collective nouns (a favorite of mine) and families! Each page begins looking like a lone animal is facing a difficult situation - whether it's a predator or a "rumbly tummy." Lifting the flap reveals a whole family of each animal and one of the (sometimes many) names for this group of animals.

Joosse's writing is poetic, "One nervous zebra graze on the plain, flicky ticky, All alone . . .?" Lift the flap and a "dazzle" of zebras stands tall in the face of a lone cheetah.

Crows, meerkats, prairie dogs, and even rat pups fill the pages of Better Together, but my favorite is the final spread where "one little person" becomes a big, boisterous family. Schorr has cleverly included an animal from every family in the book in this final illustration, as toys, art hanging on the wall and even a record album cover!

Source: Review Copy

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