Review by Booklist Review
There are so many creatures in this menagerie that they cannot be contained within typical book boundaries. A variety of animals parades across the back and front covers, monkeys fill the endpapers, and the narrative begins on the front flap. A curious circus monkey questions a top-hatted ringmaster about what to call various groups of animals. The ringmaster launches into a litany of collective nouns, delighting in the more exotic phrases such as a tower of giraffes, a scurry of squirrels, and a flamboyance of flamingos. The back matter notes that the names assigned were often playful or poetic references to the animals' behavior, characteristics, or appearance. Collage art humorously illuminates the word meanings, employing paper cut from catalogs, old books, receipts, letters, and ticket stubs. A parliament of owls is depicted wearing formal wigs and cravats, while a lounge of lizards enjoys sunshine and cool drinks. The lighthearted, layered illustrations and alliterative text make studying grammar almost as much fun as that barrel of monkeys depicted in the final spread!--Lucinda Whitehurst Copyright 2019 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
What do you call a group of giraffes? A pile of penguins? In this jovial picture book, Berger walks readers through a selection of collective nouns. Each spread, narrated by a tall, mustachioed ringleader and a diminutive monkey, features a different gathering of animals performing their communal descriptor: "a parade of penguins" marches through the snow as a marching band, "a gaze of raccoons" looks out through telescopes at the night sky, and "a leap of leopards" gracefully clears a track hurdle. Berger's digital collage illustrations playfully employ papers of different textures and patterns--a befitting medium for an eclectic assembly of beasts arranged in a seemingly random order. An informative final spread explains the origin of the collective noun, which dates back to "etiquette guides for young aristocrats" in medieval England. A diverting, albeit brief, frolic for young wordsmiths. Ages 4--8. (June)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Collective nouns are the singular focus of this straightforward picture book. A round-headed monkey asks a white man who has a positively insectile mustache and is dressed in a top hat and red coat, "I'm curious. What do you call a group of geese?" The man answers the question (a gaggle) and adds the names of groups of sheep (a flock) and cows (a herd). The monkey replies, "Wow! I wonder what you would call a group of giraffes?" And so the dialogue continues: the monkey asking, the man answering. These two characters are pictured against a white background on a side panel set off from each spread illustrating the group of animals in a way that alludes to their collective noun, with varying successa memory of elephants, for example, is shown as an elephant within another elephant's thought bubble within a third elephant's thought bubble. There is no apparent reason why the monkey wants to know these nouns nor any apparent structure moving the story forward. Reading this book aloud is no fun, unless learning the collective nouns is of burning interest to readers, and there is no index that would make this book useful in a reference collection. The only reason to keep turning the pages is the lovely collage illustrations, featuring playful use of shapes and patterns in sophisticated color palettes.There are several other successful picture books about collective nouns to be preferred over this one. (author's note) (Informational picture book. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
