This Is Not a Normal Animal Book

K-Gr 2—This book purports to showcase a series of animals linked in a silly but predictable pattern by depicting something the first animal would not do, but the following animal would, e.g., "This is a cat. If the cat laid an egg…it would be a hen." The attempted pattern is quickly disrupted, however, by an apparent disagreement between the author and illustrator. The illustrator's commentary is identifiable by the hand-scrawled font, juxtaposed with the author's typewritten font. The artist initially expresses mere snarky incredulity at the absurd text. The conflict escalates into a full revolt when the illustrator flatly refuses to draw a blobfish. Images are a fresh, eclectic mix of doodles, bright and bold ink silhouettes, a memorable blobfish photograph, and an assortment of "real" objects seen to be resting on the page. The true focus of this book is the arguing between author and illustrator—not animals. Reading it aloud in two distinct, argumentative voices (with a little storyteller-guidance) could really get kids giggling. On the other hand, the text is "readable" to many children not yet able to conceptualize the rhythm of the author/illustrator spat, leading to confusion. Anyone, however, can grasp that a blobfish is gross and hilarious.