Let's Save the Animals: Frances Barry

Let's Save the Animals is skillfully designed so that large lettering tells a story about saving the animals, while brief, in-depth information, which is more appropriate for children slightly older than totz, is included in small type. This makes it easy for you to choose whether the smaller-type content is appropriate to share with your totz. Candlewick states the age as 4-7.

The illustrations are cut-paper images of each animal and simple collage landscapes with cut-outs and reveals. The forms are large and the animals are depicted in a somewhat realistic style that's not cutesy, but has graphic appeal. Unusual partial pages have been bound between full pages. For instance, an elephant's head turns as a half page between spreads that show the entire elephant; a rhino's grassland environment turns as another partial page to work with two rhino spreads.

It begins:

(In large type:)

I wish we could save
all the endangered animals in the world!

I'd save the African elephant,
stomping across the plains
and showering in the lake.

(In smaller type that a parent may or may not choose to share with totz:)
Humans are taking over the land where elephants live. Sometimes elephants are killed for their ivory tusks.

On the inside back cover, there are simple suggestions that empower young children:

I can help protect and save the animals
with these simple actions:

(In big type:)
Let animals sleep, feed,
and play on their own.

(In smaller type)
Disturbing animals in their natural habitats
can do more harm than good.

This is a beautiful book with a poignant, simple, deftly-delivered message.

Let's Save the Animals
A Flip the Flap Book
Ages 4-7

Frances Barry
Candlewick Press