What Am I? Where Am I?

by Ted Lewin

Overview

Majestic paintings by Caldecott Honor winner Ted Lewin illustrate a guessing game that fosters an appreciation of both art and science, while introducing animals in the five major biomes: grassland, desert, forest, tundra, and water. Inspired by his many travels, classically inspired compositions communicate the regal magnificence of five stunning animals: lion, camel, tiger, reindeer, and sea otter. The story ends with a painting of a child and text that reads: I am a boy. I am on the beautiful earth. An I LIke to Read(R) book. Guided Reading Level C.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780823431809
Publisher:	Holiday House
Publication date:	08/31/2014
Series:	I Like to Read Series
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	24
Sales rank:	1,018,912
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 9.80(h) x 0.20(d)
Lexile:	BR (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Ted Lewin is an avid traveler, and many of his books are inspired by his trips throughout the world. He was awarded a Caldecott Honor for his illustrations in Peppe the Lamplighter, by Elisa Bartone. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Editorial Reviews

"[Lewin's] animals bristle with photo-realistic fur, and they are captured in wonderfully textured environments and positions that make them seem to breathe on the page. . . . an excellent choice for preschool read-alouds."—Booklist
 
"The short, simple question-and-answer sentences lend themselves to beginning readers trying to boost their skills. The pencil and watercolor illustrations are naturalistic and finely detailed."—The Horn Book
 
"The patterned repetition of the title questions and the identifiable images will make even pre-readers feel competent . . . a natural history for the very young."—Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

"An excellent choice."

Booklist

PreS-K—This easy reader introduces five animals and their habitats. A lion, reindeer, camel, sea lion, and tiger are presented through peekaboolike circles under the heading, "What am I?" A page turn reveals the full creature: "I am a lion. Where am I?" Turn the page again and two lionesses are shown sitting in a grassland. The simple questions repeat for each creature. The illustrations are rendered in watercolor and pencil, but at times too much white space makes the images stark. On the last page, readers see a boy in front of a picture of the planet Earth: "What am I? I am a boy on the beautiful earth," which is potentially confusing. An additional purchase.—Melissa Smith, Royal Oak Public Library, MI

School Library Journal

2013-08-15
A straightforward guessing game connects iconic animals to their habitats. In 21 words arranged in simple sentences, Lewin offers emergent readers a pleasing package of wildlife puzzles. Keyhole images open up to double-page spreads of an animal against a white background, which is then followed by a full-page picture of that animal in its natural habitat. Lions rest in the grassland. Reindeer roam the tundra. Two wild Bactrian camels with patchy pelts stand patiently in the desert. A sea otter floats in water on its back, holding a clam. A tiger sprawls on a forest floor. All are depicted in luminous watercolors, lightly outlined with pencil. The animals are rendered in myriad shades of gray and brown; the blues of the ocean and greens of the forest are similarly varied. A culminating page connects these creatures to readers, showing "a boy…on the beautiful earth." Behind the smiling boy, a blue marble image of the Earth is oriented so that both North and South America can be seen. The patterned repetition of the title questions and the identifiable images will make even pre-readers feel competent; they'll need only just a little help with the habitat names to master the text. This latest entry in the I Like to Read series can be paired with Lewin's Look! (2012) as natural history for the very young. (Early reader. 2-6)

Kirkus Reviews