Madeline Moser

Nineteen unusual animals are highlighted in this beautifully illustrated picture book, from the titular aardwolf - a member of the hyena family - to the babirusa, a tusked hog from Indonesia. Each animal is briefly described by Madeline Moser, and lovingly reproduced in etchings by Barry Moser. As Miriam, the friend who recommended this title to me, has noted in her own review, children and adults both have a lot to learn from this book. I already knew that the platypus was the only mammal show more that does not give birth to live young (thank you, Natural History Museum!), but had no idea that the emperor tamarin was named for its resemblance to Emperor William II, or that the pangolin digests its food with the aid of the rocks and pebbles that it likes to eat.

Readers who enjoy learning such tidbits as this, will appreciate Ever Heard of an Aardwolf, while those with an interest in engraving will delight in the painstaking detail of the illustrations. An informative afterword provides a much more detailed examination of each animal, for more advanced readers. All in all, a delightful little book, sure to please budding zoologists - especially those with a taste for the unusual. show less

This is a gorgeous book. I have started to become a collector of Barry Moser's artwork and this was a recent addition to the stacks. Here, he has teamed up with his daughter to create beautiful collection of bizarre and interesting animals.

In large format and color, this is a stunning set of Moser's imagery and is a bit of a departure from his usual pure black and white linocuts. He has an amazing way with expression, pose, and distortion. This is wonderful book for young and old.

My animal-loving 5 & 7 year olds actually learned about some new animals from this book, although they'd previously encountered roughly half of them. See entire list below.

The woodcut illustrations are wonderful, with a whole explanation at the back on how they were made.

Aardwolf
Vicuna
Loris
Pangolin
Viscacha
Naked Mole Rat
Horseshoe Bat
Okapi
Proboscis Monkey
Solenodon
Platypus
Bush Dog
Bush Baby
Babirusa
Uakari
Emperor Tamarin
Zorilla
Zebu
Flying fox
Horse (not uncommon, but with some interesting info in show more the back) show less