Does Laura Vaccaro Seeger's inventiveness never cease? In Green, Blue, and Red, the two-time Caldecott Honoree employed a die-cut technique to frame and pay tribute to, among other things, aspects of the natural world. In Animal Countdown, she uses flaps to create a peekaboo-style game that can introduce the youngest readers to counting basics while raising awareness about vulnerable animals to boot.
In the book's first spread, its left side presents the word "ten" against what looks kind of like blue-and-white marbling. This faces a full-page flat-brown panel out of which a small rectangle has been cut, exposing more marbling in which can be discerned a blue numeral 10. What could the big brown flap be hiding? Small fingers will be able to effortlessly flip the flap to uncover 10 furry-headed, bewhiskered pals: "sea otters." The blue-and-white stuff? It's the otters' frothy, watery home. On it goes, from "ten" down to "one." For that final spread, a black numeral "1" on what looks like white fur turns out to be the markings on a lone snow leopard's nose.
Seeger's mixed-media art manages to be painterly but approachable, the animal depictions realistic but something a toddler would welcome in stuffed-animal form. A companion to Seeger's conceptually similar The Hidden Alphabet, Animal Countdown concludes with news that all the featured animals are either endangered or threatened. Generous back matter illuminates the creatures' distinctive qualities; perhaps this will inspire readers of all ages to try to head off a countdown to animal extinction. --Nell Beram, freelance writer and YA author