Black Bears Book

Looking Closely Inside The Garden
Review by Anastasia Hutson
This is a non-fiction picture book about all the exciting parts that one might find in a garden. The book is composed of photographs that were taken by Frank Serafini himself. He gives a close up look into the most beautiful parts of a garden. Throughout the book he starts out with a close up image of something from the garden and gives the audience a chance to guess on what they are looking at. The book gives suggestions as to what the image might be, on the next page it shows the full image of that little snippet image was and gives factual information about that image. This is a fun and interactive way to get kids thinking while informing them about everything that goes on in a garden. This pattern of guessing and reveal goes on throughout the whole book. I enjoyed the book because of the photography that was inside of it and the fun playful aspect of getting to guess what the random image is but then finding out what it actually is and receiving useful information on the subject. Although it is a nonfiction book the style that was chosen made it very playful and fun for the audience to read. The style choice of putting an image in the letter "D" on the cover page and curving the words on the guessing page just gave it a more playful and relaxed feel. Since it is a very informative book with a lot of text that can become boring for younger readers so that style choice helps the audience stay engaged. As I mentioned previously the tone of the text is very playful and upbeat and gives a very welcoming feeling of being about to learn about the world in a fun way without it being boring and text heavy. And then also being able to connect that information with an image that was taken in places from all around the world. This picture book has a lot of good visual elements from obvious reasons. The best part about the book is the photography that was used because it's so lively and shows the reader that they can also spot these creatures or plants anywhere and they are real and tangible to them. The visual concept of the book is also brilliant because it gives the reader time to have fun and think and guess as to what might be in that little image and think of all the possibilities of what is out there. The end pages were also a great beginning and end the book because they capture the whole feeling and theme of the book and the author reminds the reader of that from beginning to end, giving the audience that full experience.