The Horn Book Guide

PICTURE BOOKS

London, Jonathan

What the Animals Were Waiting For

32 pp. | Scholastic | April, 2002 | Trade ISBN 0-439-33630-9 $$16.95

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Paul Morin. "You are Maasai. You stand on one leg, like a stork, in the sun." As the second-person narrative describes the waiting savanna, photo vignettes and heavily textured mixed-media artwork capture dynamic, painterly animals and the Maasai people. The animals are waiting, of course, for the seasonal rains. The writing is a tad portentous for so obvious a result, but the art (while sometimes garish) achieves unique effects.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam