A Tower of Giraffes

This is a beautifully illustrated book with interesting facts about the groups of various animals that it names. The illustrations are different, interesting and lovely and the facts are unusual and interesting as well. I think that adults will enjoy this lovely book as much as children will. I received this book free to review from Netgalley.

This book is a sure way to feed a child's growing interest in language. In this case it is the words people use to refer to different groups of animals. What do you call a group of koalas, squirrels, or elephants? This book provides the words for these groups and more and some related factual information. The illustrations of these animal groups, which are ink and watercolor with collages of fabric and feathers, are enjoyable to.look at. A great book for browsing and a definite boost for everyone's vocabulary. I wish the author had described her research. How did she find out these names? Are there sources children could use to extend their knowledge of words that describe animals?

A Tower of Giraffes is a beautifully illustrated picture book that teaches children the names of different groups of animals. It is probably best for 3-8 year olds, with the little ones enjoying the pictures more and the older ones enjoying both the information and the pictures. Each group of animals gets its own page with an imaginative illustration, the name of the group in bold, and then a little bit of information about the animals in a short paragraph. I would highly recommend this book for your toddler age children. Great information and excellent artwork.

Gorgeous-thanks to the publishers-I bought it for Kindle and was absolutely delighted-absolutely one of the best illustrated books of the year

Collective nouns are always so much fun to teach kids because they can really get into it. Now, Anna Wright has given us a book that is all about collective nouns describing animal groups or families.

Each group contains information about the animals social habits and how they interact with each other, as well as additional collective nouns used for some of the animals. For instance, a gaggle of geese works perfectly well, until those geese are flying in a V-formation. Then they are a wedge of geese, but if they are just flying not in a V-formation, they are called a skein of geese. Who knew?

Young readers will delight to see that so many familiar animals have nouns that fit who the animals are so well - there's a mischief of mice. a flamboyance of flamingos, a prickle of hedgehogs - so descriptive and so apt.

Giraffes are one of my favorite animals so I was not only attracted to this book because of the title, but also because of the textiled collage bodies Anna Wright gave them. In fact, all the illustrations are done with a mix of pen and ink, splashes of watercolor and textiles throughout, creating illustrations that are lovely to look at and give a feeling of texture to them. Besides the giraffe illustration, two of my other favorites is the flock of sheep wearing bits of sweater fabric for the woolly bodies,

and the herd of elephants with their large textile ears and coordinated body fabrics.

A Tower of Giraffes a beautifully crafted, well-researched book that is also interesting and fun, and, I believe, one that can lead to deeper conversations about the animals Wright included and explorations in the collective nouns and behaviors of animals not included, and there are lots of them (perhaps with a few arts and crafts projects similar to the way these were done).

This book is recommended for readers age 4+
This book was an EARC received from NetGalley

Loved this very beautiful picture book about collective nouns. Interesting facts about animals and the artwork is amazing!

One of my favorite assignments in 5th grade was finding the collective nouns for animals in groups. I only wish this book would have been around then!

This title provides the perfect way to teach elementary students these terms and inform them of animal social habits. The illustrative mish mash of watercolor and fabric also provides a jumping off point for a mixed media art project in the classroom setting.

This book would be a great addition to classroom curriculum used in these ways and also to inspire students to further research of more collective nouns.

A Tower of Giraffes: Animals in Groups is a stunningly beautiful children's book about animals who live in groups. With each page turn is a new discover of fantastic and unique artwork of animals and information about the groups they live in. I adore this book my son was enthralled with it. This book has instantly gone on my favorites list for children's books.

A Tower of Giraffes is very educational, even I learned quite a bit of really cool information. I recommend this book for any art or animal lover as well as anyone with children. This book is a great addition to any home!

Collective Nouns are cute. But the illustrations in the 'A Tower of Giraffes: Animals in Groups' are super cute. Filling the animal bodies with fabric designs is creative. Adds a collage feel to it. Like onomatopoeic words, the collection of animals reflects its words.. the flamingoes are very flamboyant.. pig and monkey illustrations with obvious paint and random paint are creative too. I didnt know most of these collective nouns.. mischief of mice, parcel of penguins..
The text and illustrations blend well with each other, the artistic flair still maintained.

My first reaction to this book is chagrin. I've been planning pretty much this sort of thing in the back of my head for … well, for years, so I have no right to complain about somebody swooping in and taking the idea. Ever since I first started seeing mentions of James Lipton's [book: An Exaltation of Larks] long long ago, I've collected and enjoyed these words used for collectives.

The artwork in this is marvelous – realistic, but with a jaunty cuteness that is extremely attractive (and kicks whatever I would have produced right to the curb). A mix of line, watercolor wash, and beautifully designed collage adds whimsy and kicks up the creativity. The only thing that could be better would be a sort of pattable book with swatches of actual fabric – but it probably wouldn't work, because the pattern of each scrap is chosen carefully to work with the drawing (or the drawing is based on the fabric's shape and pattern; it could be either). And the owls use feathers (in the most gorgeous way), which would be challenging. I want to rip off this whole style – but Ms. Wright can probably rest easy, since I'll probably never get around to it any more than I did to writing my version of this book.

I think the only thing that keeps this from being a five-starrer is that I was hoping for more (or perhaps less) from the text. Without any basis for it at all, I expected it to be in verse. (Let's see… "when horses gather together, we call it a herd… for a collection of sheep, then flock is the word"…) Something a small child, of picture book age, would enjoy having read to her, something the adult reader could deliver with varying intonations and maybe even funny voices. (You could totally read a page about pigs in a snuffly voice, and so on.) But instead each page gives the collective, then a small block of text about the animal which reads like a brief and slightly juvenalized encyclopedia entry. I haven't spent all that much time around kids, so there's every possibility I'm dead wrong, but I just don't picture them being gripped by the text. Also, I would have loved to see the connection between the collective noun and the animal made explicit.

Example: "A Flamboyance of Flamingos … Flamingos are highly sociable and live in large groups – even up to thousands of birds! These fancy feathered friends also work together to make theatrical displays by posing like ballerinas and marching in time to impress other birds." Which is fascinating … but how many children will get the bigger words? And depending on the grown up to be able to define "flamboyance" might be asking a lot.

Still, it's informative, and absolutely lovely to look at. I'd buy a copy of the dead-tree book, just for my own enjoyment.

The usual disclaimer: I received this book via Netgalley for review – many thanks!

Informative and visually appealing. Love it!

A Tower of Giraffes: Animals in Groups by Anna Wright is a non fiction picturebook. It introduces young readers to the words people use to refer to animals in a group and some information about each kind of group. The images are a combination of ink, watercolor, and fabric collage art. The result is brightly colored and unique.

A Tower of Giraffes is a great easy non fiction book that will delight young readers that love animals and learning new words. I like that the book offers the collective nouns for so many animals, but that information like when the groupings happen, the numbers of animals often found in the group, and more interesting facts are included. Some of the words are particularly well matched to the animals they describe, such as a prickle of hedgehogs or a flamboyance of flamingos, that the information all on its own. To top of the information and introduction of new vocabulary is the colorful and unique artwork that can be found on each page. The art really adds something special and interesting to further engage readers of all ages.

A Tower of Giraffes is a book that I highly recommend for school and public library collections. My daughter is an animal lover, and even though she is reading well above the level of this book, i can see it being a huge hit in our house. I cannot wait to share it with her.

A Tower of Giraffes features a number of collective nouns decorated with stunning illustrations. This book is both an informative text and piece of art. Sprinkled amongst the nouns - beautifully handwritten in ink, are snippets of information about the animals featured.

Each animal is also accompanied by inked pictures in a range of styles. Some are water-coloured, some decorated with eye-catching and colourful patterns, while other includes photographs of other elements such as feathers. I really love this book and feel that it's presentation will really inspire learning in young people.

What do you call a group of geese? Or elephants? Or pigs? Find out in this delightful picture book! I love the information on each page. My three-year-old would love this one. Each page has a picture of several animals, with a short paragraph about them. The pictures appear to have been drawn with ink, then colored with watercolors. Large areas of each picture are made from fabric or feathers cut to the right shape and glued on. This is truly a lovely book. I would definitely like to have this one on my shelf.
I received a free ecopy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A Tower of Giraffes discusses group names for animals (gaggle of geese, scurry of squirrels, etc) along with facts about the species. It has beautiful illustrations with vintage patterns, from the sheep in wool sweater patterns to the feathery owls. This is a really well-done, educational children's book.

Note: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley. I was not compensated in any other fashion for the review and the opinions reflected below are entirely my own. Special thanks to the publisher and author for providing the copy.