ALL OF US

A variety of animals—familiar and unknown—pose in their native habitats.

What every one of Gauthier’s winsome, humorous collage illustrations has in common are the eyes; the cream-colored, circular cutouts with dark pupils suggest attentiveness as the creatures gaze at readers (except for the bats, who are sleeping). Translated from French, most of the text is one long sentence, starting with the words “I am the koala who curls up into a ball when he’s cold, the snow leopard who leaps down steep hills.” As the pages turn, Gauthier provides more names and brief descriptions. The bharal (an Asian sheep) perches on a mountain peak; it “has no fear of heights.” The penguin is “a bird who does not fly.” Following the penultimate page (“the child who loves being told a story”), which depicts a diverse group of youngsters, Gauthier spotlights something that all living things share: the cell. Highly textured, painted, and mixed-media backgrounds foreground the paper and cardboard creatures that hail from around the world. The palette comprises the muted blues, greens, and browns of the natural world. The art practically begs children to reach for their scissors, and the book concludes with the loaf-shaped pattern that Gauthier used to depict each subject’s oversize head, as well as an invitation to invent.

Oozing in kid appeal, a tale youngsters are sure to regularly revisit.