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Mechanimals

by Chris Tougas

$&Baby chicks that help with heavy lifting and steel-wool-coated sheep that can buff metal are just two of the remarkable inventions of the enterprising and mechanically minded farmer in Chris Tougas’s funny new picture book. $&
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$&After losing his real farm animals in a tornado, this resourceful farmer decides to make good use of the heap of scrap metal the storm has left behind. His neighbours are dubious that he can make anything at all out of the mess, but their skepticism makes him all the more determined. He gets organized, draws up plans, and eventually creates robot animals, which can do all sorts of things that their originals couldn’t – such as the incredibly strong chick-bots, and the cow-bot who helps with the lube and fuelling, as well as making chocolate milk. The neighbours are shown that, with enough determination, pigs really can fly.$&
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$&Every child who has fashioned Lego or Meccano pieces to replicate something in the real world is likely to enjoy this book. Working in pencil and watercolour, Victoria author-illustrator Tougas has a lot of fun imagining the details of the jumble of materials, the tools, and the resulting mechanimals. The pig in the cover picture turns out to have wing flaps that open, sprouting propellers. The nonsense humour is supported and enriched by the background detail, making an unusual and likeable picture book.$&

 

Reviewer: Gwyneth Evans

Publisher: Orca Book Publishers

DETAILS

Price: $19.95

Page Count: 32 pp

Format: Cloth

ISBN: 978-1-55143-628-9

Released: Oct.

Issue Date: 2007-11

Categories: Picture Books

Age Range: 3-7