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(4)
K-3
Illustrated by
Scott Campbell.
Most children probably won't understand this "love story," written as letters between a clumsy ox and the snobby gazelle with whom he's infatuated. The more Gazelle rejects and criticizes Ox, the more loving his letters become until the happy resolution, told through endpaper illustrations. The scrawly, sprawly colored-pencil and watercolor pictures are both funny and elegant, but this is a book for adults.
(3)
PS
Illustrated by
Elio.
Fox has lost his sock; Ox helps him look for it--not all that helpfully. Finally it is revealed that Ox has mistaken Fox's sock for a hat. Ox loves his new hat so much that Fox lets him keep it...but now where is Fox's shoe? Bold brush-pen and digital illustrations capture the humor of Ox's misidentifications as well as the pair's supportive friendship.
32 pp.
| AMMO
| May, 2015
|
TradeISBN 978-162326062-0$17.95 Reissue (1963, Prentice)
(2)
K-3
Illustrated by
Ed Emberley.
The Emberleys paint the tall-tale figure as a strong and mighty but also a "kind and gentle," larger-than-life hero. Barbara Emberley's text is appropriately folksy and engaging, while Ed Emberley's iconic woodcuts--using pine hand-split by the illustrator himself--in browns and blues stand up to The Horn Book Magazine's original assessment: "A striking graphic arts achievement."
48 pp.
| Abrams
| October, 2012
|
TradeISBN 978-1-4197-0420-8$17.95
(3)
K-3
Lumberjack Paul and his ox Babe love pancakes so much that they take a cross-country adventure in search of "their pancake fortune." Their obsession shapes the American countryside--for instance, they create the Rocky Mountains by nibbling on a mountain range grown out of sun-cooked pancake batter. Luckhurst's brightly colored, humorous folk art pops in this outlandish twist on a tall tale.
32 pp.
| Houghton
| November, 2009
|
TradeISBN 978-0-547-07675-1$16.00
(2)
K-3
The brothers Kearton, pioneering bird photographers, adopted nature's own strategy with ingenious camouflages. Three years and 30,000 miles yielded "the first nature book ever entirely illustrated with photographs," including the excellent several appended here. Bond's freely rendered watercolor and pen-and-ink illustrations evoke the dedicated brothers and their marvelous contraptions with discernment and humor. Notes on the photographers' later lives are appended. Bib.
Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
January, 2010
48 pp.
| Random
| October, 2008
|
LibraryISBN 978-0-375-94688-2$11.99
|
PaperISBN 978-0-375-84688-5$3.99
(4)
K-3
Step into Reading series.
Illustrated by
John Kanzler.
Paul Bunyan himself narrates his larger-than-life adventures with Babe the blue ox. Colorful, imaginative illustrations complement this easy-to-read tall tale's exaggerations, such as a soup pot so enormous the cook needs a rowboat to stir it. The story's spell is broken, however, when Paul stops to explain the tale's origins--information better left to an author's note.
40 pp.
| Lerner
| February, 2007
|
LibraryISBN 978-0-8225-6064-7$25.26
(3)
4-6
Animal Prey series.
With straightforward writing, Markle describes how musk oxen, with sharp horns and hooves, and porcupines, with barbed quills, defend themselves from enemies. Intriguing close-up photos, such as those of the musk oxen gathered in a protective circle to face wolves and a porcupine about to swat a mountain lion with its tail, expand the accessible text. Reading list, websites. Glos., ind. Review covers these Animal Prey titles: Porcupines and Musk Oxen.
32 pp.
| Holiday
| March, 2002
|
TradeISBN 0-8234-1608-9$$16.95
(4)
K-3
Illustrated by
John Winch.
Based on a true event, this sparse yet lyric narrative describes a wagon train that went astray in Death Valley in 1850 and Old Crump, the faithful ox that carried four children out on his back. Illustrations of the ragged, starving pioneers show awkward human figures but realistic, detailed desert animals; the California landscape is rendered in warm desert colors and often incorporates photos of the desolate terrain.
(4)
K-3
Translated by Marianne Martens.
Illustrated by
Loek Koopmans.
Because his stable mate the ox eats most of the food and refuses to be friendly, the donkey is unhappy. But after the arrival of Joseph and Mary and the birth of Jesus, the ox has a change in attitude, and he and the donkey become friends. This Swiss import tells a gentle--if somewhat sentimental--tale that, while illustrated mostly in subdued tones of gray and brown, nevertheless has a warm feeling.