The Wonder Garden has all of these things, including the gold embossing on the cover--a production delight for many creators and readers.
This beautifully-produced book, from Wide Eyed Editions, the producers of books that will leave you wide-eyed, is a riot of visual delight. Super-current, with its neon colour palette cleverly blended with more traditional bookplate-style illustrations, the book takes readers on a journey around the world, visiting five incredible habitats and the fauna (and flora) that abound in each one.
The habitats are: The Chihuahuan Desert of North America, the Black Forest of Europe, the Himalayan Mountains of Asia, the Great Barrier Reef of Australia and the Amazon Rainforest of South America.
Each habitat features double page spreads of fascinating information, coupled with the birds and animals and reptiles and fish and insects to be found within. We meet the scarlet macaw and the blue morpho butterfly of the Amazon, the clown triggerfish and hermit crab of the Great Barrier Reef, the gila monster and tarantula of the Chihuahuan Desert, the red fox and wild boar of the Black Forest, and the red panda and snow leopard of the Himalayas, just to name a few.
Each spread is divinely illustrated, with pockets of accessible and well-researched information on each animal.
Ideal for study, yes, but also idea for sheer enchantment. In this case, both go hand-in-hand.
Title: The Wonder Garden
Author: Jenny Broom
Illustrator: Kristjana Williams
Publisher: Wide Eyed, $60 RRP
Publication Date: 3 September 2015
Format: Hard cover, large format
ISBN: 9781847807038
For ages: 8+
Type: Picture Book, Non-Fiction
