Snail’s Ark
by Irene Latham; illus. by Mehrdokht Amini
Preschool, Primary    Putnam    32 pp.    g
2/22    978-0-593-10939-7    $17.99

A pair of snails is at the heart of this Noah’s Ark story of perseverance and friendship. When Esther, a yellow-shelled snail, wakes early one morning and notices a sharpness in the air, she understands that “something was happening. Something big.” Spying a ship on the horizon, Esther begins her slow trek toward it. All around her, “the ground vibrated with footsteps,” “the sky hummed with wings,” and “the rivers gurgled with swimmers.” She’s momentarily tangled in a spider’s web, but presses on—until a thought makes her pause: “Did her friend Solomon know about the storm?” Esther finds him in the fern glade, and together they make it to the ark, where they’re welcomed by an entire community of animal pairs. Amini’s hand-drawn and digitally layered acrylic-gouache collages convey the rushed forward-movement of the creatures and the progressively darkening skies. The interior of the ark and the animals’ faces are full of warmth and golden tones that contrast with the cool tones of the tumultuous storm raging outside. With loyalty, perseverance, and friendly animals, the story of Esther and Solomon is a refreshing new angle on a familiar tale.

From the March/April 2022 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.