Using masterful, imaginative free verse, Valerie Worth has penned a menagerie of poems about twenty-three different animals. Worth’s alluring descriptions capture both personality and place, conveying a sense of her subject and the environment in which each creature resides. Steve Jenkins’ textured, cut-paper collage images of each animal provide a striking visual complement to the sophisticated poems. His eye-popping illustrations invite an immediate visceral response, whether it’s alarm at the poised quills of the porcupine, disgust at the armored parade of cockroaches, or delight in the suggested softness of the tail of a squirrel. (Ages 6–12)