Counting Lions: Portraits from the Wild

Arresting charcoal portraits of endangered animals, drawn in near-photographic detail, command attention in this counting book, which begins with “one lion” and ends with “ten zebras.” The large-scale b&w images are set against white backgrounds and paired with poems printed in a bright orange suggestive of the threats the animals face. Cotton’s pensive, unrhymed works describe the animals’ behaviors, physical attributes, and beauty: “Five elephants travel the dusty paths of memory./ From the day of their birth, the babies walk./ They walk into adulthood and beyond,/ following the paths set by their mothers before them.” Several poems also touch on the diminishing numbers of the species: “Does she know they are too few?/ What future is there for/ these four fighters?/ Four tigers.” Endnotes offering information about the animals and their endangered statuses conclude this powerful tribute to vulnerable creatures. All ages. (Oct.)