Author/Illustrator: Cortney Benvenuto
Format: Hardcover PB, dust jacket, self ends, 56 pages
Size: 10 x 9.25 (landscape)
Pub Date: October 8, 2019
A fresh take on an animal-themed nonfiction picture book, Animal Alliterations: An Illustrated Collection from A-Z is a fun fusion of science and poetic language. Each page alliteratively highlights fascinating facts about animal diet and adaption in five major habitats: grassland, desert, ocean, tundra, and forest.
Customary letter/animal pairings (“E” is for Elephant, “T” is for Tiger) are majestic but few and mixed into a unique collection of lesser-known animals. For example, “F” is for Fur Seal, “N” is for Nubian Ibex, and “Q” is for “Quokka.” STEM/STEAM content (aka really cool facts about animals!) is delivered poetically in each alliterative line. C: “A cactus wren calls conspicuously as she hunts for insects in the cavities and crevices of a cholla cactus.” K: “The curious kitfox uses her keen, enormous ears to detect her favorite snack, a kangaroo rat quietly scurrying underground.”
Using her signature limited palette and patterned style, author/illustrator Cortney Benvenuto picturesquely presents each habitat in a recognizable color scheme (the ocean in hues of blue, the desert in shades of yellow and brown, etc.). Within each breathtaking scene is one of the book’s twenty-six animals, brought artfully to life with traditional watercolor.
Four pages of back matter provide science and language arts enrichment and extension opportunities, including photographs of all twenty-six animals, definitions of each habitat, definitions of poetic language and alliteration, and ideas for how young people can use poetic language in their own writing.
Animal Alliterations offers K-5 educators a high interest supplement to their science and/or language arts curricula—and parents and young readers an informative and beautiful book to enjoy at home.
About the Author/Illustrator
Cortney Benvenuto is an author/illustrator who lives just outside of Portland. Using only traditional mediums—pencil, watercolor, and ink—she loves painting the natural world and children. A minimal color palette and intricate patterning are essential components of Cortney’s signature style. Cortney’s passion for animals and the environment inspired, Animal Alliterations: An Illustrated Collection from A-Z, her debut picture book.
Before becoming an author-illustrator, Cortney taught third and fourth grade and often used picture books to introduce new topics to her students. She hopes that Animal Alliterations: An Illustrated Collection from A-Zwill be used similarly in classrooms to inspire and enhance learning about science, writing, and art, and will also be enjoyed as a favorite bedtime story, pulled from home bookshelves again, and again, and again.
When she’s not illustrating or writing, Cortney is off on an adventure with her husband, daughter, and son.