Wiesmüller (The Adventures of Marco and Polo) reminds youngsters, "You are never alone, not even for a minute." On the left of each spread, Wiesmüller subjects readers to the intense gaze of an unnamed animal. Zooming in on a single eye, he meticulously details the surrounding feathers, fur or scales, the encasing folds of skin or tissue, and the light scattering through the iris. On the opposite page, readers view the world from the animal's field of vision. Most will be able to guess the identity of the mystery subject (e.g., "She perches in her hollow and dreams of the night to come. She hears you pass beneath her tree and awakens from her day of sleep" accompanies the close-up of an owl's eye). Although the text often feels overwrought, the words feel extraneous in the face of his radiant tempera pictures. Humans appear mostly as punctuation in these romanticized environments, often oblivious to the fact that they are being observed. But in the most compelling paintings, Wiesmüller captures the moment when the human gaze locks with the animal's—a girl stands stock-still in a field having spotted a rabbit, two children huddle in a soaring cathedral at the sight of a mouse. With such majestically rendered moments of sudden realization, Wiesmüller captures a sense of marvel and drives home the idea that humans are co-inhabitants of the planet. Ages 5-8. (Mar.)
