Review for Meet the National Animals

Review for Meet the National Animals

Meet the National Animals by Catherine Veitch, Non-Fiction, Children's Book, Animals, Mascot, Travel, CuteI received this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

I was scrolling through Netgalley and then boom I saw this adorable and fun looking book. Of course this girl cannot resist.

A bit unsure to follow a mascot of Russia (because NOPE), but hey, let’s just not think about that and just see a cute bear trying to find friends. And see him travel the world! Yep. Just think of that. In this book our bear is determined to make some friends and see some of the world! And we follow him as he goes from his own country to Australia and New Zealand to Papua New Guinea to France and England. We really go around the world and discover all about the mascots of those countries. I learned a lot of new things in this book. Not much about the animals other than maybe a few little facts here and there, but I learned all about which country they are mascots from. Some countries were like, yes, that is indeed the perfect mascot. But there were a few that I hadn’t expected, like the dolphin being the mascot of Greece!

I absolutely loved the bottom illustrations in which we see the bear meet with the two animals (which doesn’t entirely work on an ereader as I see just one page) and then we see the animals join the party/parade of animals. And it isn’t just a line, there is plenty to see. Because the animals don’t just walk behind our bear/with our bear, but also do some fun moves or other things. I looked forward to each new page this way.

And the illustrations themselves were also terrifically done! So much fun! Very pretty~

I did think it was weird to add two fantasy creatures to the mix. On the one hand fun, but on the other hand? It just didn’t feel like it fit. I would have rather seen some other animals, real ones.

But I just wasn’t sure about the ending and how sob story it was. Maybe if we hadn’t had two imaginary/fantasy beasts present I would have absolutely loved this. Now however? I was like, darling, if you can add non-existing animals you can revive a dead one. Done.

But all in all, this was a wonderful read with fun illustrations and I would recommend it!

Star rating, 4.5 stars

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