In my Venn Diagram of animals big and small I have an axolotl and a quetzalcoatlus. I know that quetzalcoatlus, according to fossil records, lived near Mexico; and that its much smaller phonetic friend, axolotl, is native to two freshwater lakes near Mexico City. Those STEM kids know what an axolotl looks like, but they’ve probably never seen one in real life. Even saying its name is fun, axolotl. It simply begs for an illustrated book like Axolotl and Axolittle.
Axolotl, the animal, is a circus freak of a creature that resembles a lizard with three, long tufts of pointy-hair clumps on the side of its head. Its body has two pair of legs that allow it to swim, and swim only. The axolotl is the Gob Bluth of the amphibian world, except far cuter than anyone who has ever operated a fictional banana stand.
The curve ball in Axolotl and Axolittle is that they’re two axolotls; but one of them has a big, over-the-top personality, while the other one is more reserved. They’re siblings with axolotl being the big, noisy, older one who doesn’t understand why their sibling isn’t more energetic. Axolittle is younger, more studious, loves art and is willing to share their hobbies with the older one, to a point.
As all siblings do, the two eventually get in a minor disagreement that has one of them taking it too far. Anyone who has a sibling, friend or co-worker axolotl can certainly relate to that. They do their thing once too often and a little bit louder, which leads to something breaking and dad or mom being called. Axodadl comes into the room to see what the kafuffle is between axolittle and axolotl and the polite veneer of siblings falls apart with tears and hugs. One blames the other, the other points their finger and the crying stops with the two axos meeting in the middle. They each realize that the traits that make the other one so unique, and possibly annoying, can also make themselves have more fun.
If Axolotl reads a little more and did more art, they’d be able to share that hobby with Axolittle. The siblings realize that they have more in common than the sheer number of differences. If the simple nature of the story hasn’t sold you on the fact that Axolotl and Axolittle is a picture book for pre-k through mid-elementary school, just look at the pictures.
The two impossibly cute axolotls are pink and yellow. There’s so much pink and yellow in this book that it could’ve served as the color palette for the wardrobe department on Sixteen Candles. It reminds you the hair coloring mishap that you’re trying to forget. The illustrations by Sarah Rebar are bright and happy when they need to be, but just as easily evoke the frustrated anger of a six-year-old. Sometimes the pages have action and color that stretch corner-to-corner. However, when the tension flares up the negative white space wields a mighty scolding that will make young readers pick their favorite axo.
As a read-aloud book Axolotl and Axolittle has great energy. It’s obvious when the characters are having fun. When they start to have conflict the story slows down and allows for young people to feel the troubles and frustrations the two otherwise cute amphibians are having. There are some elements of foreshadowing, teamwork, forgiveness, silliness and two siblings simply goofing around. It’s a fun book that young audiences will enjoy the first time because it’s silly. They’ll pick up the book when you’re not around to look at the art. A couple of the kids will be able to sound out some of the sight words. There are some of the kids that will try to say “axolittle” and “axolotl”, but probably get tripped up and end up laughing. Teacher and librarians will look at the book and imagine a series of adventures staring these two arrested development creatures, and realize that they’ll be seeing more of them.
Axolotl and Axolittle is by Jess Hitchman with illustrations by Sarah Rebar and is available on Sourcebooks Jaberwocky, an imprint of Sourcebooks Kids.There are affiliate links in this post.
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