Animals Brag About Their Bottoms

In this quirky translation, an innocent tribute to animal diversity by Tokyo-based author-illustrator Saito, “Everyone’s proud of their bottoms!” From a cuddly round bunny bottom to a hippo’s “so-o-o big” bum, Saito celebrates animal behinds in all their forms through paper collage, stenciled paintings, and dyed paper illustrations. It’s mostly all about size, shape, and utility, but Saito also presents the “stylish” stripy butts of zebra, tiger, and okapi; the “white, black, and black and white” rumps of various bears; and the heart-shaped tail that covers deer’s rears. The writing is simple and direct, occasionally turning playfully interrogative, as in a spread featuring a red-faced (and -tushed) Japanese macaque alongside the colorfully faced (and -bottomed) mandrill: “Did our faces copy our bottoms? Or did our bottoms copy our faces?” There’s the slightest nod to the way that different types of backsides might provide animals with adaptive advantages, but science-minded readers won’t take away much more than whimsy. Ending with a list of animals included throughout, there’s not a trace of self-consciousness in this jaunty, no-nonsense exhibition of animal posteriors. Ages 3–7. [em](Sept.) [/em]