Animal Masquerade. Marianne Dubuc. Translated by Yvette Ghione. Toronto, ON: Kids Can Press, 2012. 120 pp., hardcover, $17.95. ISBN 978-1-55453-782-2. Subject Heading: Animals-Pictorial works-Juvenile literature. Preschool-grade 2 / Ages 3-7. Review by Reesa Cohen. *** /4

excerpt:

Come one, come all to the animal masquerade.
Disguises are a must!

What could be more fun than going to a costume party! Marianne Dubuc invites her young readers to experience through creative and colourful pencil drawings, what costumes are chosen by a lively bunch of animal characters for the Masquerade. Dubuc throws in a few non-animal choices for added fun.

     It all starts with a lion who spies an invitation on a tree for masquerade. He ponders his choices.

As a cat? As a chicken? As a toad ?

     When readers turn the page, they find the lion has chosen a somewhat silly homemade disguise of an elephant. The elephant can do even better as he picks the disguise of a parrot. This pattern continues, with a parrot masquerading as a turtle. And on it goes, with each turn of the page revealing an assortment of animals, in no particular order, finding playful, imaginative costumes. Some animals will be familiar to the younger set while others will be unusual and strange, but still delightful and amusing.

She didn’t understand a thing. (she isn’t very smart.)

     Translated from French, the text is simple and clearly helps to explain the illustrations and in several spreads reflects the disguises with humour. The type and font of the text subtly changes at times. Little imaginations might giggle at a bat (with upside down text) choosing to attend the event as a BIG gorilla. The appealing drawings are child-like and charming. This is not a short book, and tends to go on and on, but the ending is a purely marvelous and divine parade. It draws together all the wild and diverse participants in a double page spread showing off their ostentatious costumes.

Recommended.

Reesa Cohen is a retired Instructor of Children’s Literature and Information Literacy at the Faculty of Education, University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, MB.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

Copyright © the Manitoba Library Association. Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice is maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission.

Published by The Manitoba Library Association ISSN 1201-9364

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