SATA
ENTRY TYPE:
WORK TITLE: We Leap Together
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://csneal.com/
CITY: Brooklyn
STATE:
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: SATA 331
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born in San Antonio, TX; married; children: two sons.
EDUCATION:University of Colorado, Boulder, B.A.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Artist, illustrator, designer, and educator. Studio Signorella, Boulder, CO, graphic designer for three years; worked at design firms in New York, NY; freelance designer and illustrator, c. 2002–; Pratt Institute, New York, NY, instructor in illustration; speaker at schools, conferences, libraries, and book festivals. Designer and director of animated videos. Exhibitions: Work has been displayed at galleries in the United States and abroad.
AWARDS:Society of Illustrators medal, for work in motion graphics; Illustration Award, Communication Arts, 2004-09, 2011; Notable Children’s Book selection, New York Times, 2011, and Marion Vannett Ridgway Award and E.B. White Read-Aloud Award Honor Book, both 2012, all for Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner.
WRITINGS
Also illustrator of book covers, including cover of Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2008. Contributor to periodicals, including the New York Times Book Review and the New Yorker.
SIDELIGHTS
An accomplished illustrator and graphic designer, Christopher Silas Neal [open new]was born in San Antonio, Texas, and has mixed Mexican and European American heritage. He was raised by his mother, who moved with him to Mississippi, Louisiana, and Georgia by the time he was four. They lived in various apartments and sometimes with family or friends until ending up in Florida. When Neal was thirteen, they resettled in Colorado. He has never met his father. Speaking with KidLit 411, Neal related that as a youth he “was always drawing, playing music, and just being creative.” Enrolling at the University of Colorado, he studied music until switching to a journalism/communications major. But it was a design elective, taken during his final semester, that led him into a position at the teacher’s boutique graphic-design studio. He told KidLit 411, “I learned on the job how to be a visual thinker and that led to me eventually wanting to try illustration.” As a self-taught artist, he tends to follow his intuition. He launched his career in earnest around 2002 creating editorial illustrations for magazines and newspapers, including the New York Times and New Yorker. Eventually also illustrating book jackets, posters, and advertisements, he was noticed by Chronicle Books and recruited to illustrate his first picture book.[suspend new] Neal received the Marion Vannett Ridgway Award for his work on Over and Under the Snow, written by Kate Messner. He lives in Brooklyn with his family.
Described as a “precisely worded, effective story” by Booklist reviewer Carolyn Phelan, Over and Under the Snow focuses on the creatures that inhabit the subnivean zone, the layer beneath the snow pack. “Prior to this,” Neal remarked to Publishers Weekly contributor Antonia Saxon, “a lot of the work I did had been commissioned by other people. My art was supplemental to someone else’s writing. This feels more like I actually created a narrative and created a story. It’s more personal.” “Up until my first book project,” Neal told Robert Newman in AI-AP, “I worked as a commissioned artist paid on a per image, per usage basis. In picture books, you have to think like an author and look at the bigger picture. It’s not a per image type of deal. If you try to count images and fees, you’ll be disappointed and frustrated in the amount of work that goes into a book. It’s better to think about it like a personal project. … You work on advance of royalties and cross your fingers. It’s a leap of faith.”
In Over and Under the Snow a father and daughter ski through the woods on a winter’s day, catching glimpses of a fox as it stalks its prey and a red squirrel before it descends into the snow. Neal’s illustrations for Messner’s story also depict a variety of more sedentary creatures, including cutaway views of hibernating bullfrogs and a queen bee. The mixed-media artwork, which resembles linocuts, drew praise from several critics. “The colors are particularly well chosen to represent the cool tones of waning winter light,” Danielle J. Ford commented in Horn Book, and a contributor in Kirkus Reviews observed that “the gray/brown/ice-blue palette of the illustrations leave readers with a retro feel that harkens back to … bygone times when life seemed simpler.” According to Tanya Boudreau in School Library Journal, “Neal’s crisp, clean … illustrations cleverly provide above-and below-ground views” of animal’s homes, and Phelan stated of Over and Under the Snow that the “eye-opening picture book could heighten a child’s awareness of the natural world.”
The process of creating the illustrations for Over and Under the Snow, Neal said in an interview in Design of the Picture Book, was very different from his previous work. “Narrative illustration felt overwhelming and daunting—character building wasn’t something I had ever tried and building scenes was certainly not my strong suit. I had previously worked as a graphic designer and my approach to image making is more flat and simple than what I thought readers expected from picture book art. The industry wasn’t as visually diverse as it is now and at the time, most books about nature would have featured fairly detailed and rendered paintings. I just didn’t see me having a place in that world. But … if there was ever a chance, this is it.” “I hadn’t given much thought to making picture books before they called and it was through my covers and posters that Chronicle had found my work,” Neal told Newman. “Once I decided that I wanted to write my own books, I hired a book agent who helped me develop and sell my pitch.”
Neal drew on his upbringing and his personal experiences for his first book as an author-illustrator, Everyone …. “I’m an only child,” Neal explained in Mile High Reading, “and much of my childhood was spent alone in my room making drawings, making music, designing video games, and writing plots for movies. In that way, my book Everyone … is somewhat autobiographical in that it’s about the cerebral journey we take when left alone with our thoughts. I had plenty of time as a kid to let my emotions and imagination run wild.” Everyone … “is about a boy and his feelings,” Neal told Maria Gianferrari in Emu’s Debuts. “It explores how we feel, what we feel and how everyone (and everything) feels it too.”
Neal’s next self-illustrated title, I Won’t Eat That, as he told the Children’s Book Review, is “about a hungry cat who doesn’t like cat food and asks an assortment of wild animal friends—a turtle, a fox, a chimpanzee—what they eat and is totally grossed out by their answers. It’s a surprise what the Cat finally decides to eat.” The large finicky yellow cat rejects all the various options presented to him until he encounters a mouse—and immediately figures out what cats like to eat. “The final pages show Mouse running away,” declared Randall Enos in Booklist, “and the reader is left to speculate what might happen.” A Kirkus Reviews contributor concluded that I Won’t Eat That is “a sure bet for storytime success with large groups. You will read this (and reread it, too).”
[resume new]Neal wrote and illustrated a pair of clever board books featuring animals and portmanteaus. In Animal Shapes, a turtle crossing paths with an oval coins a “slow-val,” while a bird encountering a triangle yields a “fly-angle.” In Animal Colors, a blue whale plus a yellow lion produces a “green whion,” while a yellow kangaroo crossed with a green moose delivers a “chartreuse kangamoose.” A Kirkus Reviews writer proclaimed, “What a mischievous twist on a concept book!” Concerning the illustrations, the reviewer appreciated how “minimal backgrounds and sketchy, impressionistic detailing” help emphasize the “zany animals.” The reviewer affirmed that the books have “got verve” and prove “innovative and thoroughly enjoyable.”
In We Leap Together, another self-illustrated pic, Neal presents whale and human mother-child scenes in parallel. Text about staying close together, passing columns (sunbeams, skyscrapers), encountering crowds, and coming to the surface show whales on one side and humans on the other. When the humans go whale-watching, they all jump for joy. A Kirkus Reviews writer affirmed that Neal’s “inspired composition and concise, child-friendly text pair together seamlessly, … encouraging readers to empathize with these intelligent, social, endangered creatures.” The reviewer concluded that youths should “leap at the chance” to read this “winning” title.
Neal and Messner continued their collaboration with several more titles eventually amounting to the “Over and Under” series. Using blues, browns, and pinks to convey the evening in Over and Under the Pond, Neal provides mixed-media illustrations that, as observed by Susan Dove Lempke in Horn Book, “are realistic but play with the subtleties of water’s movement” and aptly “use varied perspectives.” A Kirkus Reviews writer observed that in Over and Under the Wetland, Neal’s “delicate, colorful, and accurate mixed-media art invites readers to linger. The images, without lines or shadows,” help make for a “quiet and beautiful celebration.” In Over and Under the Coral Reef a Kirkus Reviews writer found a “harmonious marriage of text and illustration,” as Neal has “composed a symphony of color” in “utterly immersive settings that … offer opportunities to learn more.” The reviewer called Messner and Neal’s latest book “enchanting” and another “triumph.”
Jennifer Adams’s How Do I Love Thee? is a reimagining of Victorian poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 43, with Neal’s illustrations shifting the thematic focus from romance to friendship, following three diverse youths as they enjoy everyday as well as extraordinary times together. A Kirkus Reviews writer remarked that Neal’s “friendly, matte artwork is softly colored in earth tones” and has the moxie to “mix the real and the fantastical,” helping produce a “beautiful ode … that brings Browning’s rhythms to kids’ level.”
Also historically inspired is Barb Rosenstock’s Prairie Boy: Frank Lloyd Wright Turns the Heartland into a Home. The famed architect of the title loved playing with blocks as a boy and reinvented architecture with geometry suiting American landscapes and lifestyles. A Kirkus Reviews writer observed that Neal’s “dynamic mixed-media illustrations are replete with shapes” and aptly illustrate “how Wright’s fascination with shapes and nature informed his work.”
In Kate Dopirak’s Hurry Up! A Book about Slowing Down, a child’s hurried, ultra-busy schoolday gives way to a delightfully lazy afternoon. A Publishers Weekly reviewer admired how Neal’s scenic progression “takes readers from frenetic activity to solitary moonlit slumber in one smooth arc, embodying the shift to calm that all creatures crave.” A pair of city neighbors enjoy as school as well as the rest of the day together in All’s Right with the World, by Jennifer Adams. A Kirkus Reviews writer declared that Neal’s “vibrant mixed-media illustrations,” done in his “signature style, bring this bustling, beautiful neighborhood to life” and show that there are always “ways to appreciate nature.” About Creep, Leap, Crunch! A Food Chain Story, by Jody Jensen Shaffer, illustrator Neal told Julie Damerell of Debbie Ridpath Ohi’s website: “We spend so much time feeling separate from the natural world. I hope our book reminds readers that we are all connected–from the sun, to the trees, and from mouse to bear, we all need each other in order to survive.”[close new]
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, December 15, 2011, Carolyn Phelan, review of Over and Under the Snow, p. 60; September 1, 2013, J.B. Petty, review of Lifetime: The Amazing Numbers in Animal Lives, p. 99; September 1, 2014, Connie Fletcher, review of Go to Sleep, Little Farm, p. 120; October 1, 2017, Randall Enos, review of I Won’t Eat That, p. 87.
Horn Book, January-February, 2012, Danielle J. Ford, review of Over and Under the Snow, p. 77; January-February, 2014, Danielle J. Ford, review of Lifetime, p. 118; November-December, 2014, Jennifer M. Brabander, review of Go to Sleep, Little Farm, p. 77; May-June, 2015, Danielle J. Ford, review of Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt, p. 93; July-August, 2017, Susan Dove Lempke, review of Over and Under the Pond, p. 110.
Kirkus Reviews, October 1, 2011, review of Over and Under the Snow; August 1, 2013, review of Lifetime; July 15, 2014, review of Go to Sleep, Little Farm; March 15, 2016, review of Everyone … ; August 15, 2017, review of I Won’t Eat That; July 1, 2018, review of Animal Shapes; October 1, 2018, review of How Do I Love Thee?; October 15, 2018, review of From Tree to Sea; July 15, 2019, review of Prairie Boy: Frank Lloyd Wright Turns the Heartland into a Home; December 1, 2022, review of All’s Right with the World; October 15, 2023, review of Creep, Leap, Crunch! A Food Chain Story; May 1, 2024, review of Like No Other; September 15, 2024, review of Over and Under the Wetland; March 15, 2025, review of We Leap Together; July 15, 2025, review of Over and Under the Coral Reef.
Publishers Weekly, October 3, 2011, review of Over and Under the Snow, p. 67; December 19, 2011, Antonia Saxon, “Flying Starts” (profile of Neal), p. 14; September 23, 2013, review of Lifetime, p. 78; Annual, 2013, review of Lifetime, p. 57; spring, 2014, review of Lifetime, p. 57; June 30, 2014, review of Go to Sleep, Little Farm, p. 59; Annual, 2014, review of Go to Sleep, Little Farm, p. 32; February 15, 2016, review of Everyone … , p. 65; September 11, 2017, review of I Won’t Eat That, p. 63; December 4, 2017, review of Over and Under the Pond, p. S25; March 30, 2020, review of Hurry Up! A Book about Slowing Down, p. 65.
School Library Journal, December, 2011, Tanya Boudreau, review of Over and Under the Snow, p. 102; October, 2013, Carol S. Surges, review of Lifetime, p. 138; July, 2014, Sara-Jo Lupo Sites, review of Go to Sleep, Little Farm, p. 74; March, 2015, review of Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt, p. 172; April, 2016, Samantha Lumetta, review of Everyone … , p. 136; June 1, 2017, Courtney Lewis, review of Over and Under the Pond, p. 123; October, 2017, Marianne Saccardi, review of I Won’t Eat That, p. 79.
ONLINE
AI-AP, https://www.ai-ap.com/ (June 18, 2015), Robert Newman, illustrator profile.
A Child Grows, https://www.achildgrows.com/ (October 4, 2022), “Over and Under with Christopher Silas Neal.”
Children’s Book Review, https://www.thechildrensbookreview.com/ (December 15, 2017), “Illustration Inspiration: Christopher Silas Neal, Author-Illustrator of I Won’t Eat That.”
Christopher Silas Neal website, https://www.csneal.com (November 1, 2025).
Debbie Ridpath Ohi website, https://debbieohi.com/ (November 29, 2023), Julie Damerell, “Interview with Jody Jensen Shaffer and Christopher Neal.”
Communication Arts, http://www.commarts.com/ (January 14, 2009), “Putting Pen to Paper until Something Good Comes Out.”
Design of the Picture Book, http://www.designofthepicturebook.com/ (August 23, 2016), “Everyone + An Interview with Christopher Silas Neal.”
Emu’s Debuts, https://emusdebuts.wordpress.com/ (July 16, 2015), Maria Gianferrari, “An Interview with Christopher Silas Neal, Book Cover Illustrator of Another Kind of Hurricane + a GIVEAWAY!!”
KidLit 411, https://www.kidlit411.com/ (May 24, 2019), “Author-Illustrator Spotlight: Christopher Silas Neal.”
Mile High Reading, https://readingwithmrteut.wordpress.com/ (April 13, 2016), author interview.
Christopher Silas Neal is an award-winning author and illustrator of picture books including the Over and Under series with author Kate Messner, which was praised for its "stunning retro-style illustrations" (New York Times). He makes books that feature animals, shapes, science, friendship and silliness, and strives to create diverse and inclusive characters that reflect the kids and parents who read his books. Neal's author debut titled "Everyone" was praised by Publisher's Weekly as "simple, honest, lyrical". His board book series (Animals Colors, Animal Shapes) received starred reviews from Publisher's Weekly and Kirkus. He speaks about his books, the art making process, and his career at schools, conferences, libraries and book festivals across the country. Neal is a Mexican/European-American artist who lives with his wife and two boys in Brooklyn, NY.
Interview with Jody Jensen Shaffer and Christopher Neal: CREEP, LEAP, CRUNCH! A FOOD CHAIN STORY (Knopf)
November 29, 2023
By Julie Damerell
Jody Jensen Shaffer is an award-winning poet and the author of more than 80 books for children, including PRUDENCE THE PART-TIME COW, IT’S YOUR FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL, BUSY BUS!, A CHIP OFF THE OLD BLOCK, EMERGENCY KITTENS! and more. You can learn more about Jody at her Website or on Twitter.
Christopher Silas Neal is an award-winning author and illustrator of picture books including the Over and Under series with author Kate Messner. He strives to create diverse and inclusive characters that reflect the kids and parents who read his books. Neal is a Mexican/European-American artist who lives with his wife and two boys in Brooklyn, NY. You can see more about Christopher at his website, Instagram, or on Twitter
CREEP, LEAP, CRUNCH! A FOOD CHAIN STORY
Written by Jody Jensen Shaffer and illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers/Penguin Random House
Publication date: December 12, 2023
For ages 4-8 years | ISBN 9780593565520
★ “This is an excellent introduction to the food chain, and will be especially popular among elementary science teachers.” —School Library Journal, starred review
“A good and read-aloud-ready way of introducing an important natural process.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Bright, sound-rich rhyming verse engages throughout as the sun rises, the day progresses, and Jensen Shaffer works her way up the chain.” —Publishers Weekly
“This cumulative food chain story is told using lyrical text as animals move through the day “creeping, leaping, and crunching” in a forest ecosystem.: —NSTA 2023 Outstanding Science Trade Book for Students K-12
“The food chain is vital to our planet’s survival, but it can be a hard thing to talk to little ones about. Try this new nonfiction picture book to help explain the circle of life to kids.” — We Are Teachers Best New Books for Kids and Teens in December 2023
Synopsis:
CREEP, LEAP, CRUNCH! A FOOD CHAIN STORY is a lively, lyrical introduction to a day in a forest food chain. Follow along as the sun helps plants make their own food and the animals begin hunting for theirs. From crickets to bears, all predators and prey have a place in nature. But what happens when the prey escapes? This cumulative story will delight, with a surprise ending that all science lovers will enjoy.
Peorder the book wherever you normally buy books! For more about the book and its creators, see this November interview on Picture Book Builders.
Q: How was CREEP, LEAP, CRUNCH! A FOOD CHAIN STORY created?
Jody: As with most of my picture books, I was at my desk brainstorming new book ideas. I wanted to write a story about the food chain, but I knew the risks in creating a picture book about predators eating prey–-honestly, who wants to actually see that?–-so I needed to handle the telling carefully. I was searching for a voice and a structure that would help my food chain book be informative and fun, but not gory. That’s when I thought of the folk song “There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly.” It was a food chain…of sorts. It was fun and lively. It was perfect! I set about researching forest plants and animals and the cumulative story structure of “Old Lady.” And because my story rhymes, I also needed to choose just the right words, which can be tricky when you’re limited by facts. I wrote and revised this manuscript for ten years before sending it out.
Q: How did you create your illustrations for the book?
Christopher: Everything I do starts with a sketch. Jody’s manuscript has this wonderful repeating pattern–with each page turn we add a new link to the food chain. So my early sketches and drawings played around with how to show this cumulative effect visually.
What I ended up with is a perspective shift as we move from animal to animal. So on one spread we see a cricket eating grass and on the next spread we pull back to see a mouse stalking the cricket who eats the grass and so on and so on. The way I depict animals falls somewhere between life-like and completely stylized. My work is never photo-realistic but depending on the text, I lean into how accurate vs how stylized the anatomy should be. However, these decisions are really intuitive. I read the text and based on how it makes me feel, I draw and play until it feels like it fits. I’m a self-taught artist so a lot of what I do is intuitive.
I use both traditional and digital tools to create my picture book art. It’s a mix of drawing and painting, and separations much like a print maker. Texture is a big part of what I do so I spend a lot of time figuring out how paint and pencil can be used to make a somewhat flat or simple image have more depth and feeling. I scan these handmade parts and use photoshop to put them together and add color.
Q: What do you hope young readers will take away from your book?
Jody: I hope young readers take away four things from our book:
1. I hope they learn about food chains, food webs, and each animal that is highlighted.
2. I hope readers enjoy hearing the lyrical language and reading the fun, cumulative sections.
3. I hope they’re surprised and delighted by the ending! Go, Prey!
4. I hope readers love Chris’s illustrations as much as I do.
Christopher: We spend so much time feeling separate from the natural world. I hope our book reminds readers that we are all connected–from the sun, to the trees, and from mouse to bear, we all need each other in order to survive.
Q: What advice do you have for young writers?
Jody: Don’t be ashamed or embarrassed about your writing voice, thinking it might not sound like “real” writing. The words you choose, the way you put sentences together, and the thoughts you include in those sentences come from who you are. That’s good enough. The world needs your voice!
Christopher: The things that make your art unique are also what make you as a person unique–a collection of life experiences, world view and identity, and personality quirks. If you are putting those things into your work, you’ll stand out as an artist. Let those experiences guide your creative decisions. There’s only one you. The closer your art gets to that core, the more it will stand out.
Q: What are you excited about now?
Jody: I’m excited to share CREEP, LEAP, CRUNCH! in person with readers! I can’t wait to read it aloud with a roomful of kids and see their reactions. And I’ve got three more picture books releasing in 2024!
Christopher: I have many book projects on the horizon including a new self-authored picture book that is in its early stages.
Over and Under With Christopher Silas Neal
by a child growsOctober 4, 2022
Over and Under the Snow
My Favorite New Picture Book Series
by Shelly
My daughter and I recently discovered this amazing series written by Kate Messner and illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal. Around the same time I met Christopher at Powerhouse on 8th while he was promoting his book I WON’T EAT THAT. I had to immediately get all of these books.
The first book we discovered from the Christopher Silas Neal series was UP IN THE GARDEN AND DOWN IN THE DIRT. It has beautiful descriptions of vegetables, insects, and many symbiotic relationships. My daughter loved the description of each of the animals and insects at the end, and I loved the illustrations. The GARDEN remains my favorite for lines like “Down in the dirt the earthworms tunnel deep. I’m jealous of their cool, damp dark.” The illustrations of pill bugs are my favorite, they remind me perfectly of how it felt when I let them curl up in my hand as a child.
But that wasn’t the first book in the series. The first, now my daughter’s favorite, was OVER AND UNDER THE SNOW (2011). I think she loves it for the father/daughter skiing scenes that remind her of skiing with her dad. I like the illustrations of underground tunnels and burrows. There are a couple of scary moments when a parent has to decide how much to censor about what could possible happen if the fox finds the mouse or rabbit, but it is something one has to discuss sometime. I think the book is meant for slightly older kids who will already know the fate of the rabbit, or the fox if it doesn’t catch that rabbit.
The latest in the series is OVER AND UNDER THE POND. The POND features a fantastic illustration looking down from the tops of tall trees into a canoe holding a mom and son. “Over the pond, the shadows stretch. Ospreys circle on quiet wings.” Thanks to author Kate Messner, this one has the best “About the Animals” section. We read it for almost an hour. I love that it was inspired by one of my favorite places, the Adirondacks.
Questions for Christopher Silas Neal
Were these books envisioned as a series from the beginning or only after the first was published?
The Over and Under series began as a single story that the author Kate Messner (former teacher) scribbled down while on a bus returning from a school field trip. After the success of the first book, Kate wrote another titled Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt and then Over and Under the Pond. Kate and I just signed up for three more books. I’m currently making art for the next story in the series which takes place in a rainforest in Costa Rica.
Did you start working with Kate or were you matched by the publisher? Did you work together or from the finished text?
The way it works for most picture books is that the author submits a manuscript to a publisher and then the editor and art director at the publisher find an artist to pair with the story. That’s the way it has been with all of my collaborations so far. In most cases, the author and illustrator don’t meet until after the book is finished. Everything is done through the publisher. The author writes, I draw, there’s a little back and forth, but for the most part we do our own thing and then put it together.
Which of the series was your favorite book to illustrate?
I love each of these books for different reasons. Over and Under the Snow was my first experience making a book so it will always hold a special place in my heart. On the other hand, the art and pictures for Over and Under The Pond were a joy to make. That book gelled seamlessly.
How much research did you need to do to capture the animals? Did you use pictures as references or observe live animals?
I use a ton of reference including google and youtube to observe animals and capture their body language and body shape. Even though the art in theses books is not realistic there is a certain amount of scientific accuracy. We have an expert look over the art and make notes as well. The author, Kate Messner, does so much research and takes so many notes that a lot of that work has already been done by the time I get the manuscript.
I also love your solo book “I Won’t Eat That”. Did you have an experience with a picky eater that inspired it or were you a picky eater yourself?
Both of my kids and my large orange tabby cat are picky eaters and they certainly inspired this story.
As a Brooklyn resident, you have relationships with a lot of local bookstores. Can you tell us about how you work with bookstores and any local events coming up? (I see we can order signed copies of your books through the Greenlight bookstore website.
I often have readings at Greenlight Books, Books Are Magic, and Power House on 8th. It’s a great way to connect with local families and share my books. For some folks, story time at their local bookstore is a weekly affair—its an integral part of their weekend rhythm. I like being a part of that. Greenlight books also helps facilitate my school visits in Brooklyn. They take book orders a head of time, hand deliver the books during my visit, and make sure the books are signed and personalized. Reading at schools is one of the favorite things I do as an author/illustrator.
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In honor of Christopher’s commitment to local bookstores, I have linked all the books in this article to Greenlight. Shop there or at Powerhouse on 8th if you can for these great books, but if you must, here is our Amazon affiliate link.
Author-Illustrator Spotlight: Christopher Silas Neal
© Christopher Silas Neal
May 24, 2019
Today we are pleased to feature author-illustrator Christopher Silas Neal and his book, HOW DO I LOVE THEE, by Jennifer Adams (Balzer + Bray 2018), a re-invention of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnet 43. Enter to win a copy!
Tell us about your background and how you came to illustrate for children.
Thanks for having me! I've been an illustrator for about 17 years and got my start making editorial images for magazines and Newspapers. The New York Times and the New Yorker gave me some of my first assignments. I eventually branched out to book jackets, posters and advertising, too.
© Christopher Silas Neal
My life and career changed when Chronicle Books gave me a call. They had seen my work for magazines and book covers and were looking for a non-traditional artist to work on a nonfiction picture book called OVER AND UNDER THE SNOW by Kate Messner. That was in 2009. I've been making picture books ever since. Kate and I are currently working on our fifth book together which is about a desert canyon. We have a book called OVER AND UNDER THE RAIN FOREST which comes out in Spring 2020.
I'm a self-taught artist and before moving to Brooklyn, I studied music at the University of Colorado. I eventually switched majors to journalism/communications and took a design elective my last semester of school. The teacher of that class gave me a job at his small graphic design studio. I learned on the job how to be a visual thinker and that led to me eventually wanting to try illustration.
As a kid I was always drawing, playing music, and just being creative. I was born in San Antonio, Texas in the late 70s. Like a lot of people in South Texas, I'm mixed race Mexican-American. My mom was a single parent so we moved to several places including Mississippi, Louisiana, and Georgia all before I was four. We didn’t have a lot of money and we lived in a trailer park, various apartments, stayed with friends and family and there were a few times when I didn't know where we would sleep. We finally landed in Florida where I lived until the age of 13. Then we moved to Colorado.
Congrats on your recent book, HOW DO I LOVE THEE, by Jennifer Adams. Tell us about it and how you approached the illustrations.
HOW DO I LOVE THEE is a reimagined version of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnet 43. The original piece is a Victorian ode to romance which starts with the famous line, "How do I love thee, Let me count the ways." Jennifer Adams' adaptation replaces the passion and romance for kid-friendly themes like the changing seasons.
© Christopher Silas Neal
I didn't receive any explicit direction from my editor or Jennifer Adams about possible imagery—it was a blank slate. Being a father of two boys, I initially read the manuscript as a reflection on the loving bonds between parent and child. I think that is the most obvious way to read it. At least without pictures to drive the narrative or give it a setting. But, I wanted to try something unexpected and instead interpreted the words as an ode to friendship.
© Christopher Silas Neal
It just seemed like kids would find that more interesting. I landed on these three kids who go on somewhat surreal adventures together (I think they could be read as either literal or imagination/play) while holding hands, giggling, laughing and having the time of their lives. The imagery follows the text in a playful way placing our characters in some amazing settings such as a mountain top, a deep sea submarine, and soaring through the night sky by way of kites. In other moments, they are lying in the grass, under a tree or just playing in the snow. Whether they are globe trotting or just in their backyard, these kids are like three peas on a pod.
Tell us about some of your other recent books and projects. Anything new coming down the pipeline?
I have a series of board books titled ANIMAL SHAPES and ANIMAL COLORS. The concept is sort of a mashup. So for instance in Animals Shapes: "When leaping frogs meet an Octagon, they make a... HOPTAGON". Those two books are out now and I'm working on two more: ANIMAL SOUNDS and ANIMAL NUMBERS.
© Christopher Silas Neal
Also in the works is another reimagined poem collaboration with Jennifer Adams. Yay!
Was your road to publication long and windy, short and sweet, or something in between?
Working on HOW DO I LOVE THEE was as smooth as can be. It was published by Balzer/Bray and we had a blast making this book. It was one of those instances where everything lined up and everyone was into it.
© Christopher Silas Neal
What are the 1-2 best things you did for your illustration career? What advice would you give to aspiring illustrators?
Do what you love. To students and people that hope to jump into the field of illustration I say take risks. Take creative risks like trying something new without any guarantee you'll be good at it. Take personal risks like moving to a new city or approaching someone you'd like to meet. And finally, dream big. Let reality scale things back rather than your ambition and imagination.
© Christopher Silas Neal
What is one thing most people don't know about you?
I have never met my father but I've met a few important people that I love and respect and that took time care for me along the way.
Where can people find you online?
https://www.csneal.com/
Instagram: @csilasneal
Twitter: @csneal
Christopher Silas Neal is an award-winning author and illustrator of picture books including OVER AND UNDER THE SNOW with author Kate Messner, which was praised for its "stunning retro-style illustrations" (New York Times), was a 2011 New York Times Editor's Choice and an E.B. White Honoree in 2012. Neal's author debut titled EVERYONE was praised by Publisher's Weekly as "simple, honest, lyrical." He creates book jackets, art for magazines and posters, and occasionally directs and designs animated videos. He speaks about his books, the art making process, and his career at schools, conferences, libraries and book festivals across the country. He lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
Over and Under the Pond
by Kate Messner; illus. by Christopher Silas Neal
Preschool, Primary Chronicle 48 pp.
3/17 978-1-4521-4542-6 $16.99
In this author-illustrator team's third collaboration (Over and Under the Snow, rev. 1/12; Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt, rev. 5/15), a mother and child spend a day paddling around a pond, noticing the creatures and plants that live there. They watch the surface of the water, "reflecting the sky. / Sunshine and clouds--then a shadow below," which draws the child's attention to what's underneath. Mom explains, "Under the pond is a whole hidden world of minnows and crayfish, turtles and bullfrogs." Messner conveys the sights and sounds and motions of a peaceful day spent enjoying and observing nature. "Over the pond," the two see painted turtles on a log, a moose with a mouthful of waterlilies, a blue heron hunting for minnows; "under the pond," beavers dive, a caddisfly larva builds a home, tadpoles change. Neal's mixed-media illustrations stay mostly in blues, browns, and pinks, especially as the day moves to evening and then night. His depictions of the plants and animals are realistic but play with the subtleties of water's movement. Both author and artist use varied perspectives, showing the pond from high above and from beneath the water, looking up at the bottom of the canoe. An author's note about pond ecosystems is followed by information about each of the creatures in the text and illustrations, with quick, kid-friendly facts. SUSAN DOVE LEMPKE
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Sources, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.hbook.com/magazine/default.asp
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Lempke, Susan Dove. "Over and Under the Pond." The Horn Book Magazine, vol. 93, no. 4, July-Aug. 2017, pp. 110+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A500260333/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=229d2700. Accessed 26 Aug. 2025.
Neal, Christopher Silas ANIMAL SHAPES Little Bee (Children's Fiction) $11.99 3, 27 ISBN: 978-1-4998-0534-5
You think you know shapes? Animals? Blend them together, and you might see them both a little differently!
What a mischievous twist on a concept book! With wordplay and a few groan-inducing puns, Neal creates connections among animals and shapes that are both unexpected and so seemingly obvious that readers might wonder why they didn't see them all along. Of course, a "lazy turtle" meeting an oval would create the side-splitting combo of a "SLOW-VAL." A dramatic page turn transforms a deeply saturated, clean-lined green oval by superimposing a head and turtle shell atop, with watery blue ripples completing the illusion. Minimal backgrounds and sketchy, impressionistic detailing keep the focus right on the zany animals. Beginning with simple shapes, the geometric forms become more complicated as the book advances, taking readers from a "soaring bird" that meets a triangle to become a "FLY-ANGLE" to a "sleepy lion" nonagon "YAWN-AGON." Its companion text, Animal Colors, delves into color theory, this time creating entirely hybrid animals, such as the "GREEN WHION" with maned head and whale's tail made from a "blue whale and a yellow lion." It's a compelling way to visualize color mixing, and like Animal Shapes, it's got verve. Who doesn't want to shout out that a yellow kangaroo/green moose blend is a "CHARTREUSE KANGAMOOSE"?
Innovative and thoroughly enjoyable. (Board book. 2-4)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Neal, Christopher Silas: ANIMAL SHAPES." Kirkus Reviews, 1 July 2018. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A544637796/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=eac74842. Accessed 26 Aug. 2025.
Adams, Jennifer HOW DO I LOVE THEE? Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins (Children's Fiction) $17.99 12, 18 ISBN: 978-0-06-239444-6
Three diverse children adapt Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnet 43 from love poem to celebration of friendship.
A pale girl with black hair in pigtails, a light-brown-skinned boy with brown hair and glasses, and a dark-brown-skinned girl with afro puffs atop her head are clearly the best of friends, often holding hands or otherwise touching in the mixed-media-and-digital illustrations. Adams has kept what concepts children can understand of Browning's language, replacing the rest with references to the seasons and kid-friendly language. Instead of "I love thee to the depth and breadth and height / My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight," Adams offers, "I love thee deep / and wide and high. // I love thee in soft sunlight / and rain-drizzled night." The former spread shows the trio in a submarine and on a ship at sea. Instead of Browning's passionate declamations, readers hear, "I love thee by stars / and firelight. // By spring's first snowdrops // and fall's red trees // and winter's frost-etched breath." The illustrations mix the real and the fantastical: One of the last spreads ("...and at end of day's goodnight kiss") portrays the three children suspended from kites, two of them being welcomed by a parent's arms, the third still drifting toward home. Neal's friendly, matte artwork is softly colored in earth tones. The final page tells a little about Browning and gives the original text of Sonnet 43.
A beautiful ode to friendship that brings Browning's rhythms to kids' level. (Picture book. 4-8)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Adams, Jennifer: HOW DO I LOVE THEE?" Kirkus Reviews, 1 Oct. 2018. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A556118941/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=069ad450. Accessed 26 Aug. 2025.
Thomas, Shelley Moore FROM TREE TO SEA Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster (Children's Fiction) $17.99 2, 12 ISBN: 978-1-4814-9531-8
Qualities found in nature are extolled and parallels drawn to strengths that can help children (and adults) face and overcome challenges.
Thomas' first-person narration, which some listeners may find preachy and distant, seems intended to represent the voices of the various children pictured throughout. Their voices are similar, however, as each describes the ways that natural elements teach resilience, strength, and bravery, among other characteristics. Trees, for example, "show me how to stand tall," while "Stones show me how to be strong." The smoothly written, extremely earnest text is leavened by occasional wordplay: "Oceans show me how to travel far and wide. / I see all there is to see, / but I always return / with a friendly wave." Neal's double-page spreads, created in mixed-media and digital, have an appealingly childlike feel and are enlivened by some unexpected perspectives. The progress from day to night and back to dawn offers a logical flow, and a nighttime scene of a tiny boat floating above the shadow of an enormous whale among the reflections of stars and moon is particularly arresting. Characters are depicted with a range of skin tones, and a few glimpses of far-off skyscrapers add a hint of urban flavor to the mostly pastoral settings, but no particular cultural or ethnic group or geographical location is identified.
Textually purposeful and visually appealing, this may be useful to caregivers seeking to reinforce both positive traits and an appreciation for nature, but it's unlikely to engender much enthusiasm without this kind of deliberate endorsement. (Picture book. 5-7)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Thomas, Shelley Moore: FROM TREE TO SEA." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Oct. 2018. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A557887216/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=90b81c07. Accessed 26 Aug. 2025.
Rosenstock, Barb PRAIRIE BOY Calkins Creek/Boyds Mills (Children's Informational) $17.99 9, 10 ISBN: 978-1-62979-440-2
An American master builder was inspired by basic geometry and the Midwestern prairie.
In boyhood, Frank Lloyd Wright was entranced by the land around him. To help him cope with frequent family moves that take him far from his beloved Wisconsin home, Wright's mother gave him sets of wooden blocks; he loved the myriad ways he could arrange their shapes. Recognizing that the multicolored, European-style homes popular at the time didn't meld with the landscape's natural contours nor suit contemporary American lifestyles, the adult Wright envisioned "a new kind of house." He opened his own firm and, using the plains' own shapes and colors as templates, designed long, rectangular "Prairie Houses" that blended organically into their surroundings. The text is serviceable as it provides a simple blueprint of the life and career of this 20th-century visionary, but there is no glossary for the many architecture-related terms used. Wright quotes appear throughout. Readers will be interested in how Wright's fascination with shapes and nature informed his work and should be encouraged to create their own "building designs." Dynamic mixed-media illustrations are replete with shapes: Many pages emphasize verticals and horizontals; some feature "wood-grained" blocks; trees are drawn with rounded leaves and sticklike trunks. Characters default white. A spread in the backmatter includes photos of some of Wright's most famous structures.
A competent introduction to a master whose ideas still influence today's buildings. (author's note, sources) (Picture book/biography. 7-10)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Rosenstock, Barb: PRAIRIE BOY." Kirkus Reviews, 15 July 2019. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A593064441/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=a9a5f265. Accessed 26 Aug. 2025.
Hurry Up! A Book About Slowing Down
Kate Dopirak, illus. by Christopher Silas Neal.
Beach Lane, $17.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-53442497-5
Kids aren't exempt from fast-paced living, especially not the brown-skinned child who stars in this prescription for downtime by the late Dopirak (Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Car). Neal (From Tree to Sea) visualizes its opening words with images of the child dashing down the stairs and out to the bus: "Hurry up!/ Hurry down./ Hurry round and round ... and round." At school, the classroom teems with activity ("Hurry here!/ Hurry there!/ Hurry, scurry everywhere!"), and the sprint continues back home, snarled by the family pup tugging at a shoelace. Out for a walk, child and dog continue at the breakneck pace until "STOP!" appears in large letters across the sky, a message from the universe. A page turn reveals a world transformed and on pause. Everything is green as child and pup watch a snail ("Slow things down"), and a tossed stick tumbles lazily end over end before reaching the leaping dog ("Take a break"). A long, luxurious afternoon ends at dusk as the pair head home. Neal's visual pacing takes readers from frenetic activity to solitary moonlit slumber in one smooth arc, embodying the shift to calm that all creatures crave--and need. Ages up to 8. Author's agent: Tracey Adams, Adams Literary. Illustrator's agent: Stephen Barr, Writers House. (May)
Caption: Dopirak and Neal suggest an alternative to constant action in their mellowing picture book (reviewed on this page).
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2020 PWxyz, LLC
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"Hurry Up! A Book About Slowing Down." Publishers Weekly, vol. 267, no. 13, 30 Mar. 2020, p. 65. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A622904644/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=b2d30726. Accessed 26 Aug. 2025.
Over and Under the Rainforest
Kate Messner, author
Christopher Silas Neal, illustrator
Chronicle Books
680 Second Street, San Francisco, CA 94107
www.chroniclebooks.com
9781452169408, $18.99, HC, 48pp
https://www.amazon.com/Over-Under-Rainforest-Kate-Messner/dp/1452169403
In the pages of "Over and Under the Rainforest" by author Kate Messner and artist/illustrator Christopher Silas Neal, children ages5-8 will enjoy discovering the wonder that lies hidden among the roots, above the winding rivers, and under the emerald leaves of the rainforest.
"Over and Under the Rainforest" features animals like the slender parrot snake to the blue morpho butterfly, explores the canopies, where toucans and pale-billed woodpeckers chatter and call, while other animals include capuchin monkeys who swing from vines and slow-moving sloths who wait out daily thunderstorms
Under the canopy of the rainforest hundreds of animals make their homes, but up in the leaves hides another world. "Over and Under the Rainforest" is perfect for kids who can't get enough of the rainforest and all the animals living in it.
Both entertaining and educational, "Over and Under the Rainforest" is especially recommended for family, daycare center, preschool, elementary school, and community library picture book collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Over and Under the Rainforest" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $11.99).
Please Note: Illustration(s) are not available due to copyright restrictions.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2020 Midwest Book Review
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Messner, Kate. "Over and Under the Rainforest." Children's Bookwatch, Nov. 2020. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A645279951/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=b83c327f. Accessed 26 Aug. 2025.
Over and Under the Canyon
Kate Messner, author
Christopher Silas Neal, illustrator
Chronicle Books
680 Second Street, San Francisco, CA 94107
www.chroniclebooks.com
9781452169392, $18.99, HC, 56pp
https://www.amazon.com/Over-Under-Canyon-Kate-Messner/dp/145216939X
Synopsis: The latest book in the acclaimed Over and Under series, "Over and Under the Canyon" takes young readers on a thrilling tour of a desert canyon ecosystem. Over the canyon, the sun scalds the air, baking desert mud to stone. But under the shade of the cliffs hides another world, where bighorn sheep bound from rock to rock on the hillside, roadrunners make their nests in sturdy cacti, and banded geckos tuck themselves into the shelter of the sand. Young readers will enjoy discovering the wonders concealed in the curves of the canyon, the magic of a desert wildflower bloom, and all the unexpected creatures that bring the desert to life.
Critique: Noting that the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) emphasize learning about animal habitats/biomes in K-2 curriculums, while later grades address topics like food chains, conservation, and endangered species, and with its depth of research and an engaging, highly visual narrative, "Over and Under the Canyon" is a simply excellent curriculum resource for primary school educators and home schooling parents."Over and Under the Canyon" provides an ideal resource for classroom and family discussions of the importance and wonder of our world's natural habitats and ecosystems. While also available for personal reading lists in a digital book format (Kindle, $8.51), "Over and Under the Canyon" is unreservedly recommended for family, elementary school, and community library picture book Environmental, Ecology, Zoology and Wildlife picture book collections.
Please Note: Illustration(s) are not available due to copyright restrictions.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 Midwest Book Review
http://www.midwestbookreview.com/cbw/index.htm
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Messner, Kate. "Over and Under the Canyon." Children's Bookwatch, Apr. 2022. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A707299189/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=b422de6f. Accessed 26 Aug. 2025.
Adams, Jennifer ALL'S RIGHT WITH THE WORLD Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins (Children's None) $17.99 3, 7 ISBN: 978-0-06-296248-5
A slice-of-life tale, from dawn to dusk.
Drawing inspiration from Robert Browning's "Pippa's Song" (the poem is included toward the end of the book), Adams follows a pair of brown-skinned children--neighbors on the same city block--as they greet the day, head to school, walk home, have dinner together, and prepare for bed. Both the soothingly written verse and the vibrant mixed-media illustrations, done in Silas Neal's signature style, bring this bustling, beautiful neighborhood to life and demonstrate that even in an urban setting, there are ways to appreciate nature--the kids gaze at a snail on one spread; another page depicts a child's drawing of flowers on a fridge. The work also quietly reminds readers of the joys of everyday routines. Cats and birds are a recurring thread throughout--perched or soaring above the unnamed protagonists or lounging in the background. Those seeking additional tributes to city life should pair this one with Matt de la Peña's Milo Imagines the World (2021), illustrated by Christian Robinson, and Jacqueline Woodson's The World Belonged to Us (2022), illustrated by Leo Espinosa. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A charmer that captures the exuberance of finding happiness in the little things. (Picture book. 4-8)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Adams, Jennifer: ALL'S RIGHT WITH THE WORLD." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Dec. 2022. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A729072765/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=f1d43c60. Accessed 26 Aug. 2025.
Shaffer, Jody Jensen CREEP, LEAP, CRUNCH! A FOOD CHAIN STORY Knopf (Children's None) $18.99 12, 12 ISBN: 9780593565520
A rhymed climb up a food chain.
Shaffer and Neal follow a series of creatures: plants that create their own food with the help of the "glorious, life-giving, fiery sun," a cricket that munches on grass, a mouse that eats the cricket, a red milk snake that swallows the mouse, a red hawk that hunts the mouse, a fox that pounces on the hawk, and, finally, a bear that makes a meal out of the fox. More bloodthirsty young readers may be disappointed that both author and illustrator largely leave out the CRUNCH! part of this natural progression--in the illustrations, only the foliage suffers, as none of the featured eaters are shown actually chowing down on animal prey, and the language is likewise abstract. The general concept is clear enough, though, and in both the cumulative rhyme and the nature notes at the end, Shaffer complements Neal's pettable-looking creature cast with easily digestible descriptions of behaviors and diets. The author properly acknowledges that this particular chain "occurs in a temperate deciduous forest," and if she never explicitly introduces the more complicated (and accurate) notion of food webs, she does finish off her narrative by noting that "some days" the fox gets away, whereupon the "hungry black bear / munches flowers and seeds / all that she needs."
Very simple, a little bland, but a good and read-aloud-ready way of introducing an important natural process. (glossary) (Informational picture book. 5-7)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2023 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Shaffer, Jody Jensen: CREEP, LEAP, CRUNCH! A FOOD CHAIN STORY." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Oct. 2023. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A768633610/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=3b01e2cb. Accessed 26 Aug. 2025.
Collard III, Sneed B. LIKE NO OTHER Kane Press (Children's None) $18.99 6, 18 ISBN: 9781662670077
Every animal may be unique, but some species are truly one of a kind.
A baker's dozen of very different creatures star in this visually impressive and informative book. Each has no close relatives in the animal kingdom and is distinguished by unusual traits or behaviors, clearly and succinctly described here. Australia's platypuses split off from other mammals 166 million years ago and are among the only mammals to lay eggs. The tuatara, found in New Zealand, is part of an order of reptiles that evolved 200 million years ago, when Earth consisted of the supercontinent Pangea. The aye-aye, a type of lemur that's native to Madagascar, has incisors that never stop growing, while the leatherback sea turtle, which lives in oceans all over the world, is far larger than other turtles and can swim up to a mile below the surface. Finally, there's Homo sapiens, distinguished by our big brains and capacity for language. (Chimps, orangutans, and gorillas, our closest living relatives, belong to a different scientific family.) Each entry also lists the creature's height, weight, and lifespan and features a large, stunningly detailed, close-up color illustration. Excellent backmatter offers would-be scientists more information on classifying animals, along with a glossary, relevant websites, notes on researching and taxonomy, and a map with the 13 animals and more one of a kinds.
A striking book that celebrates the astonishing diversity of the animal world. (Informational picture book. 6-9)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Collard III, Sneed B.: LIKE NO OTHER." Kirkus Reviews, 1 May 2024. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A791876820/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=1d3e7014. Accessed 26 Aug. 2025.
Messner, Kate OVER AND UNDER THE WETLAND Chronicle Books (Children's None) $18.99 8, 13 ISBN: 9781797210872
Swamps can be subtly spectacular, if you know where to look and what to see.
This addition to Messner's and Neal's successful Over and Under series sees readers through the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Florida. Dark-haired "Grandma" and a skirt-wearing child "wander, through curtains of green," on a boardwalk. What lives in the subtropical wilderness beneath and above them? Many, many animals populate this "secret kingdom": a barred owl and pig frog; a painted bunting, red-bellied woodpecker, and red-shouldered hawk (one page is devoted to their various sounds); a black-crowned night heron, banded water snake, and cottonmouth; a dazzling white egret, and roseate spoonbills eating small fry; a swamp lily and red-bellied turtle, the latter immediately snapped up in the jaws of an alligator; a strangler fig hugging a cypress; a raccoon family; a swallow-tailed kite and mosquito fish; anhinga, Florida panther, ghost orchid, and sphinx moth. The pages that follow provide detailed information on the habits, appearance, features, and contributions of each named member of the ecosystem, as well as additional information about the specific sanctuary depicted. Neal's delicate, colorful, and accurate mixed-media art invites readers to linger. The images, without lines or shadows, bring the hidden wetland world right before readers' eyes.
A quiet and beautiful celebration of an elusive, underappreciated, and often threatened natural resource. (further reading)(Informational picture book. 4-8)
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"Messner, Kate: OVER AND UNDER THE WETLAND." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Sept. 2024. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A808342970/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=b41d2746. Accessed 26 Aug. 2025.
Neal, Christopher Silas WE LEAP TOGETHER Knopf (Children's None) $19.99 4, 1 ISBN: 9780593812648
Parallel mother-and-child stories unite whales and humans.
While similarities between these marine mammals and people may not be immediately apparent, Neal invites readers to consider how alike we are, placing scenes of a mother whale and calf on the verso of each spread and a tan-skinned human mother and child on the recto. "We move side by side. Mama always stays close," reads the text as the cetacean pair swim close together and the people walk hand in hand through an urban environment (details establish the setting as New York City). This initial, straightforward juxtaposition leads to more inventive, delightful ones, beginning with, "We pass long columns." Here, a low visual perspective shows the calf gazing at beams of light, while on the other side of the spread, the child looks up at skyscrapers. Pleasing connections between whales and humans continue, with schools of fish likened to crowds of people, the whales breaking the water's surface compared to the humans emerging from an underground subway stop, and so on. At book's end, the people go whale-watching, and the title's meaning is brought to life as they jump for joy on the ship's deck while the animals leap from the water, the illustration now a cohesive, full-bleed double-spread. Neal's inspired composition and concise, child-friendly text pair together seamlessly, while simple backmatter illuminates whale behavior, encouraging readers to empathize with these intelligent, social, endangered creatures.
Readers should leap at the chance to acquire this winning tale.(Picture book. 3-6)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2025 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Neal, Christopher Silas: WE LEAP TOGETHER." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Mar. 2025. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A830532299/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=f5997c00. Accessed 26 Aug. 2025.
Messner, Kate OVER AND UNDER THE CORAL REEF Chronicle Books (Children's None) $18.99 8, 26 ISBN: 9781797225357
Another triumph for two masters of picture-book nonfiction.
Having taken readers everywhere from the rainforest to the desert, it was only a matter of time before this dynamic author-illustrator pair invited us somewhere even more tropical. To say that the experience was worth the wait is an understatement. This latest installment of the bestselling series features a brown-skinned father and child as guides into the vibrant world of the coral reef. The book is a harmonious marriage of text and illustration; Neal has composed a symphony of color that makes for utterly immersive settings that also offer opportunities to learn more. As schools of blue tangs swirl and dance in concentric circles around bright red coral, the effect is so lush that even the Little Mermaid would long to return to the sea. Messner's perfectly chosen prose advances the story, introducing the protagonist to various nooks and crannies of the reef while allowing readers to feel the sensations of floating, diving, and breathing underwater as they turn the pages. Taking youngsters to the inky depths alongside great barracudas and spotted eagle rays, then back to the water's surface in time for a breathtaking sunset, this engaging book renders the reef mesmerizing.>
An enchanting work that will delight young readers and undoubtedly spur requests for Caribbean summer vacations. (author's note, more information on the animals featured)(Informational picture book. 4-8)
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"Messner, Kate: OVER AND UNDER THE CORAL REEF." Kirkus Reviews, 15 July 2025. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A847367674/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=785f0e4e. Accessed 26 Aug. 2025.