Wild is the awesome intersection of technology and books

Wild is the newest installment in an ongoing series by Dan Kainen with text written by Kathy Wollard. These books are large and feature pictures that move. These pictures aren’t so emotional that they will move you. It’s the fact that these photos move-or at least give the very real effect that they are moving due to Photicular technology the animals in Wild appear to run, pick, scavenge, lick, fly or more as readers turn the page.

As an adult, I know the animals aren’t in the pages. That’s the fun of Wild, as well as, Kainen’s other books. They are intended for ages 8 and up. The younger age set might need some help with the vocabulary. However, from an education perspective it’s spot on with what they’re learning and presented in a way that makes them want to dive into the material.

The images in Wild are addicting and you’ll find yourself looking at them over and over. You’ll make the Rhinoceros run forward, then backwards and do it again. Any reader will touch the pictures and listen to the ziggy-ziggy sound that your fingernails make as they go past the minute grooves in the photos.

Older readers will marvel at the fact that they used to have baseball cards that use a more primitive form of this technology. For anyone that looks at Wild it’s worth looking at the pictures in detail to see how the illusion is created. One of the best examples, or ways to see how the panels in the pictures respond to light is the gorilla.

Coming up on the #blog tonight. From @dankainen on @WorkmanPub -at the intersection of books and tech photography is #Wild pic.twitter.com/QCljNJw0rs

— Trey Burley (@Daddymojo) September 24, 2017

On this page there is some very informative text about how gorillas interact with each other, live on a daily basis, similarities to humans and what their current threats are to their environment. After you’ve read the text, look at the photo of the gorillas. Specifically, look at tan leafy patch that’s between the mother and baby. Turn the page slowly, then quickly and you’ll see exactly how tiny each panel in the photograph is in order to make them move.

Your head will get lost in the details of Wild. The images will make any age reader curious and the text will engage readers who are 8 and up. Previously we’ve taken Jungle to our child’s first grade class to read and they absolutely loved it. We’d tell them facts about the animals as we turned the page and let their minds do the rest. Bonus: if you go to a big box store (Costco) they have Wild on sale for a couple of dollars off its cover price.