The Horn Book Guide

PICTURE BOOKS

Balian, Lorna

The Aminal

48 pp. | Star Bright | March, 2005 | Trade ISBN 1-59572-006-5 $17.95
New ed. (1972, Abingdon)

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Lorna Balian & Lecia Balian. Young Patrick describes his new "Aminal"--"round and green and blinky-eyed"--to a friend, who pictures an alienlike creature, which she describes to another friend, who imagines an even stranger beast, etc. Readers will enjoy the telephone-game-like premise and the payoff--Patrick's "Aminal" is a turtle--but the re-colored cartoony renderings of the children are synthetic-looking to the point of cheesiness.

Reviewer: Nell Beram