Under the Same Sky

Cats under the night sky and lions in the noonday sun, deer in the mountains and rabbits in the forest, dolphins in the ocean and birds in the air—all of them “live under the same sky,” Teckentrup writes, “in lands near and far.” Each pair of animals, and each pair of spreads, are united by a die-cut that reveals something of the second page in the first, and repeats the first line of the poem with the second line. The cats, composed of flat, graphic shapes, have yellow eyes that mimic a die-cut yellow cloud among the stars; a page turn reveals the cloud to be part of a sun-baked sky over a grasslands-dwelling family of lions. Earth-toned browns and water-toned blues carry through the theme of a world shared by many. By drawing the animals into relationships with one another, Teckentrup (Don’t Wake Up the Tiger) celebrates the majesty of the natural world and the creatures that inhabit it, and in plain, almost prayerlike words, holds up this essential union. Ages 3–6. [em](Sept.) [/em]