Emily Hawkins, Nick Belcher and Maggie Kneen, Pippbrook Books
Two by Two is a picture book of Noah and the Ark written from the point of view of the dove that is sent to look for land.
It is written in poetry which, fortunately, has an even rhythm. This is very important to me; if poetry rhymes, I like it to scan properly.
Sensibly, the pages are made of a light cardboard, which will make it harder for little fingers to tear when they want to be on a different page to the one which is being read aloud to them.
And, you can feel the pictures; that is, parts of the pictures are slightly raised so you can feel the outline of the ark and the raised feathers of the dove. They feel very nice too.
Two by Two is a very attractive book; the pictures are wonderful and even the text looks pretty in a mixture of a large cursive font and a wavy type of print.
I just have one tiny criticism, which won’t bother small children in the slightest: many of the beautifully-drawn animals in the book couldn’t have possibly been on the ark at the time; in fact they probably hadn’t even evolved at the time.
Also not all the animals came two by two; some of them came in groups of seven. I would really like to see a picture of the ark with the type of animals around at the time; surely it wouldn’t be too difficult to find out what they were?
Katy Gerner
