I Wish I Had…

In a poetic text, the narrator wishes for superhuman qualities -- specifically, those of various animals. Some wishes are straightforward and will be easily understood by the youngest audience: the sharp eyes of a blackbird or the tail of a lemur, for instance. Others seem more adult and will require time to process: "I wish I had the forest of thoughts of a deer listening in the woods" or "...the huge ears of an elephant to hear what the heavens say." The text's mysterious qualities are accentuated by Mulazzani's intricate, deeply hued art. Employing a huge variety of media, she sometimes goes wild with line and pattern but manages to keep a sense of atmosphere and balance on each spread. Some animals are shown in realistic environments, while others are seen in more fanciful surroundings, such as the lemurs cavorting in trees that resemble apartment buildings. Near the end of the book, the whale and elephant are both shown with skin that seems to reveal their thoughts. The overall effect is mind-opening and calming, making this feel like a bedtime story, though it could just as easily be used in a classroom as an exercise in perspective or as part of a poetry unit. lolly robinson