Safari: A Photicular Book by Dan Kainen and Carol Kaufmann

This is astonishing not neccessarily because of the content, but because of how the books is put together. Intrigued? Take a look at the video…

Publisher: Workman Publishing

ISBN: 9780761163800

Published: 19/9/2012

Lovely, no? And quite spectacular. I mean, I remember having little lenticular bookmarks when I was a kid or, perhaps if the boat had really been pushed out, a lenticular cover, but never anything of this quality when I was a kid. It’s like watching a film, I mean, did you see the cheetah run?

As for the actual text of the book, it starts off mostly written as a first hand account of going on a safari. Getting off the plane, meeting the Maasi guide, the heat, the sights, everything. There’s even some quiet musin on how the author’s presence as a guest has it’s own impact on the nature they’ve come to observe – they long to be a part of Nature but should they be there?  Each animal’s page  is filled with wordy detail designed to draw you in and make you flick back to the photicular display on the previous page – you’ll want to see the cheetah’s tail act as a rudder, or see if you can spot the hooked dewalan on the inner side of their paws. Next to all this more detailed information you also get a little bit of vital statistics, such as size, habitat, population etc. Basically the bare bones information with some detailed image-conjuring paragraphs beside it.

This is a book that’s writing is technically aimed at adults but honestly? I reckon either the publishers and authors are savvy to the idea that secretly all adults want their books to be kids books or this is a book that you can just forget ‘the rules’ with and let the kids loose on it too. Yes the information is written for adults, but I daresay the book can still be appreciated by kids anyway, especially if they have a project due on safari animals. If nothing else, what a showstopper to take in to class!

Find Safari here on the publishers site or here if you don’t use dollars.