AT THIS VERY MOMENT

With a gentle rhythm, unforced rhymes and near rhymes and perfect pacing, this bedtime story encourages children to think, dream and wonder about the lives of animals in the wild. Arnosky takes his readers and listeners through a day. Beginning with the moment of waking up, he matches the child’s possible activities to those of an animal. Brushing teeth? “A toothy shark / is circling a reef.” Drinking water from a fountain? “Someplace in the forest / a deer drinks from a pool.” Eating your peas? An owl, a beaver, a rattlesnake and a blue jay are eating too. From raccoons that live in his woodshed to a black bear with cinnamon cubs photographed by a friend in Yellowstone and lions from his dreams, this prolific author-illustrator draws on long experience of nature-watching, drawing, painting and imagining to produce beautiful double-page spreads showing animals in their natural habitats. A band of bighorn sheep walks a narrow mountain trail. A finback whale surfaces, not far from seals on rocks off the Maine coast. A semi-palmated plover perches on an alligator’s gaping jaw. While the focus animal is clear from the lines on the page, readers with some knowledge will be able to identify other species in these realistic images. In an afterword, Arnosky explains his connection to each animal. Children lucky enough to encounter this book will feel connected, too. (Picture book. 4-8)