Animal-Loving Children for Children....Song of the Wild: A First Book of Animals By Nicola Davies. Illustrated by Petr Horacek.108 pp. Candlewick. $19.99. (Picture book; ages 3 to 7),;Inky’s Great Escape: The Incredible (and Mostly True) Story of an Octopus Escape By Casey Lyall. Illustrated by Sebastià Serra.32 pp. Sterling. $16.95. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8); Inky’s Great Escape: The Incredible (and Mostly True) Story of an Octopus Escape By Casey Lyall. Illustrated by Sebastià Serra.32 pp. Sterling. $16.95. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8);Feather By Cao Wenxuan. Illustrated by Roger Mello.48 pp. Elsewhere Editions. $18. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8); How to Be an Elephant: Growing Up in the African Wild Written and illustrated by Katherine Roy. 48 pp. Roaring Brook. $18.99. (Picture book; ages 7 to 11) (IBRChildrensBooks)

Song of the Wild: A First Book of Animals By Nicola Davies. Illustrated by Petr Horacek.108 pp. Candlewick. $19.99. (Picture book; ages 3 to 7)

Jellyfish, flamingoes, butterflies; pandas, zebras, vipers. This beautifully illustrated oversize compendium will be a treat for anyone who likes to look at and think about the staggering variety of animals on this planet. Davies (“King of the Sky”) has a degree in zoology and a clear passion for animal life. A brief verse on each spread is both awed and intimate — “The panda walks alone,” she writes, “and the reason for its color / we may never really know” — leaving ample space for Horacek’s vividly colored, painterly art.
 

From "Inky's Great Escape"Credit

Inky’s Great Escape: The Incredible (and Mostly True) Story of an Octopus Escape By Casey Lyall. Illustrated by Sebastià Serra.32 pp. Sterling. $16.95. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8)

Few stories of animal escapades rival octopus escapes for mind-boggling fun. Lyall embellishes wildly on the story of Inky, who broke out of a New Zealand aquarium in 2016. This Inky is a raconteur and a patient opportunist who escapes on a dare from his tankmate, Blotchy. Inky’s physical feats are, of course, incredible: He makes himself “flat as a piece of seaweed,” then coils his body into a rope, slipping down the drain and out to the ocean. With Technicolor flair, Serra’s madcap cartoony illustrations rev up the story even more.




Inky’s Great Escape: The Incredible (and Mostly True) Story of an Octopus Escape By Casey Lyall. Illustrated by Sebastià Serra.32 pp. Sterling. $16.95. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8)

Red and Lulu, a devoted pair of cardinals, live year-round in a giant pine tree overlooking the snug house of a family of humans. But the tree is chopped down and strapped to a truck, with Lulu in its branches. Red’s journey to find his mate makes for gorgeous sweeping vistas and heightened emotion, especially when he finds her in the illuminated branches of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. Tavares (“Crossing Niagara”) lets the holiday note waft lightly, bringing equal cheer to the celebration of pair-bonding and New York City.

From "Feather"Credit

Feather By Cao Wenxuan. Illustrated by Roger Mello.48 pp. Elsewhere Editions. $18. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8)

“I believe a good picture book comes close to philosophy,”the great Chinese children’s author Caowritesin the introduction to this lovely and, yes, profound tale of a feather searching for the bird it belongs to. As Feather is rebuffed by a heron, a peacock, a wild goose and more, we glimpse each bird’s personality and sense of purpose, and we feel Feather’s longing for self-knowledge and a home. Mello’s striking art makes each page a bright color, each avian portrait an evocative surprise. The book’sbox like design looks special, too.

From "How to Be an Elephant" Credit

How to Be an Elephant: Growing Up in the African Wild Written and illustrated by Katherine Roy.
48 pp. Roaring Brook. $18.99. (Picture book; ages 7 to 11)

From Babar to Little Elliot, fictional elephants have charmed generations of kid readers. But make room for this account of real-life elephants that follows a baby through her first two years, explaining elephant society and biology and how the young learn. The energetic illustrations are whimsical on one page, scientifically precise on the next. As in her wonderful “Neighborhood Sharks,” Roy reels you in with startling facts, then shows how a dominant species is really vulnerable, dependent on humans to choose to practice conservation.