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Birds & Other Animals: with Pablo Picasso
A groundbreaking study of animals as captured in rarely seen sketches by legendary artist Pablo Picasso The masterful drawings of Pablo Picasso are used to teach animal recognition in this artful, read-aloud board book. Birds & Other Animals takes children through Picasso's series of single-line animal drawings, beginning and ending with various kinds of birds. The cleverly whimsical charm of Picasso's sketches keeps readers engaged, while the accompanying text enriches the experience with conversational commentary. Readers will not only broaden their visual definitions of which animals are which, but also grow familiar with fine art in this relevant and relatable third title in the 'First Concepts with Fine Artists' series. Includes a read-aloud 'about the artist'.
30 pages, Board Book
First published April 24, 2017
51 people want to read
About the author
Phaidon Press
277 books438 followersPhaidon Press is a global publisher of books on art, architecture, design, fashion, photography, and popular culture, as well as cookbooks, children's books, and travel books. The company is based in London and New York City, with additional offices in Paris and Berlin. -wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 9, 2026
Pablo Picasso’s pencil and ink line drawings are reproduced in Phaidon Press’ 2017 board book Birds & Other Animals With Pablo Picasso on backgrounds that look like aging white paper (thus just like in the Picasso originals I might add and which I certainly do hugely appreciate).
Now the featured animal drawings of Birds & Other Animals With Pablo Picasso (and which both begin and equally so end with birds), they all look delightfully and equally so totally spontaneous (and indeed, just like a young child has taken a pencil or a pen and started doodling around a bit). But please, this is in no way meant to be a criticism of Picasso’s work either but is in fact meant complimentarily (as I really do find it lovely how one can oh so wonderfully make use of Pablo Picasso’s line drawings for young children and in a simple board book such as Birds & Other Animals With Pablo Picasso). And with the animal drawings of Birds & Other Animals With Pablo Picasso, Picasso has reduced his depicted animals down to their most basic forms, with many looking as though they were drawn with just one stroke of a pen or pencil (thus for example an ostrich sporting one leg, a long neck, a beak and a round scribble at the rear for a tail and a horse with three downward strokes for legs, a boot-shaped head and two circles at the top of the legs for shoulder and haunches), with each image in Birds & Other Animals With Pablo Picasso also being paired with an (uncredited) phrase or sentence at the bottom of the page, sharing facts both obvious and surprising, as well as often being wittily humorous.
But just to point out that while some reviewers of Birds & Other Animals With Pablo Picasso do for some reason seem to question whether the primary audience for board books would maybe have issues identifying the featured animals in Birds & Other Animals With Pablo Picasso (due to how simplistically and how allusion-like they have been rendered by Pablo Picasso), I personally think that this is not a huge issue and that most toddlers would more than likely both enjoy Birds & Other Animals With Pablo Picasso and also have no issue figuring out what kind of animals are being depicted with and by Picasso. And yes, and finally, the back matter for Birds & Other Animals With Pablo Picasso includes a short (but more than adequate) biography of Pablo Picasso and the front of Birds & Other Animals With Pablo Picasso also presents all of the picture credits and thus acts like a bit of a bibliography for me (but sadly, while the facsimiles of the original drawings the sketches were pulled from is definitely appreciated, they are too small and also much too blurry to be useful, and which also the main reason why I cannot and will not consider a five star rating for Birds & Other Animals With Pablo Picasso, but that my four star rating is solid and that I do warmly and also hugely enthusiastically recommend Birds & Other Animals With Pablo Picasso).
Now the featured animal drawings of Birds & Other Animals With Pablo Picasso (and which both begin and equally so end with birds), they all look delightfully and equally so totally spontaneous (and indeed, just like a young child has taken a pencil or a pen and started doodling around a bit). But please, this is in no way meant to be a criticism of Picasso’s work either but is in fact meant complimentarily (as I really do find it lovely how one can oh so wonderfully make use of Pablo Picasso’s line drawings for young children and in a simple board book such as Birds & Other Animals With Pablo Picasso). And with the animal drawings of Birds & Other Animals With Pablo Picasso, Picasso has reduced his depicted animals down to their most basic forms, with many looking as though they were drawn with just one stroke of a pen or pencil (thus for example an ostrich sporting one leg, a long neck, a beak and a round scribble at the rear for a tail and a horse with three downward strokes for legs, a boot-shaped head and two circles at the top of the legs for shoulder and haunches), with each image in Birds & Other Animals With Pablo Picasso also being paired with an (uncredited) phrase or sentence at the bottom of the page, sharing facts both obvious and surprising, as well as often being wittily humorous.
But just to point out that while some reviewers of Birds & Other Animals With Pablo Picasso do for some reason seem to question whether the primary audience for board books would maybe have issues identifying the featured animals in Birds & Other Animals With Pablo Picasso (due to how simplistically and how allusion-like they have been rendered by Pablo Picasso), I personally think that this is not a huge issue and that most toddlers would more than likely both enjoy Birds & Other Animals With Pablo Picasso and also have no issue figuring out what kind of animals are being depicted with and by Picasso. And yes, and finally, the back matter for Birds & Other Animals With Pablo Picasso includes a short (but more than adequate) biography of Pablo Picasso and the front of Birds & Other Animals With Pablo Picasso also presents all of the picture credits and thus acts like a bit of a bibliography for me (but sadly, while the facsimiles of the original drawings the sketches were pulled from is definitely appreciated, they are too small and also much too blurry to be useful, and which also the main reason why I cannot and will not consider a five star rating for Birds & Other Animals With Pablo Picasso, but that my four star rating is solid and that I do warmly and also hugely enthusiastically recommend Birds & Other Animals With Pablo Picasso).
June 9, 2017
“Birds. Some birds fly, and flies fly too! Some birds swim, and turtles swim too! Birds and so many other animals are inside this book!”
A board book that uses line drawings by Picasso to explore the world of animals. Each cream-coloured page contains illustrations of an animal ranging from birds to insects, mammals to fish. The drawings are accompanied by a simple text that either states what the animal is or what they are doing, as in “Flamingoes are birds who stand on one foot” or asks the reader a question: “Does this fox look hungry to you?” The text is interactive and allows further exploration of the illustrations. There is information about the artist – apparently there was a time when he painted everything in blue – and a double-page spread showing other examples from his sketchbooks. This is an unusual book and my immediate impression was that it would be too simplistic for young children and that they would not connect with the subtleties of Picasso’s drawings. However, my three year old granddaughter was fascinated by it, able to identify every animal and much discussion ensued. I also think that, for children who are just learning to draw, seeing animals represented in a simple way with a few lines would be quite affirming of their own attempts. The First Concepts series is a rather delightful way to introduce children to world-renowned artists; the other books in the series look at colours using the work of Matisse and Shapes using art by Albers. I hope more are planned.
Recommended for early years/reception.
A board book that uses line drawings by Picasso to explore the world of animals. Each cream-coloured page contains illustrations of an animal ranging from birds to insects, mammals to fish. The drawings are accompanied by a simple text that either states what the animal is or what they are doing, as in “Flamingoes are birds who stand on one foot” or asks the reader a question: “Does this fox look hungry to you?” The text is interactive and allows further exploration of the illustrations. There is information about the artist – apparently there was a time when he painted everything in blue – and a double-page spread showing other examples from his sketchbooks. This is an unusual book and my immediate impression was that it would be too simplistic for young children and that they would not connect with the subtleties of Picasso’s drawings. However, my three year old granddaughter was fascinated by it, able to identify every animal and much discussion ensued. I also think that, for children who are just learning to draw, seeing animals represented in a simple way with a few lines would be quite affirming of their own attempts. The First Concepts series is a rather delightful way to introduce children to world-renowned artists; the other books in the series look at colours using the work of Matisse and Shapes using art by Albers. I hope more are planned.
Recommended for early years/reception.
April 20, 2017
From this blog post:
From Phaidon's First Concepts with Fine Artists comes Birds & Other Animals with Pablo Picasso. Each page of this board book features a simple, but perfect drawing of an animal by Picasso along with minimal text such as "Wasps like to fly, but grasshoppers prefer to hop!" that I believe is also Picasso's, but am not sure. There's a page at the end explaining who the artist was and a final spread with the sketchbook pages from which these animals came.
February 24, 2020
Birds & Other Animals with Pablo Picasso is a board book that features some simple line sketches and whimsical descriptions. The drawings, done often as a single black curving line could be replicated in twisted wire or string or similar.
http://pussreboots.com/blog/2020/comm...
http://pussreboots.com/blog/2020/comm...
September 12, 2020
Interesting book to look with preschoolers when exploring art in the classroom.
March 26, 2022
Fun kids book with original Picasso sketches.
November 21, 2018
Birds & Other Animals with Pablo Picasso, BOARD BOOK. Phaidon Press, Inc., 2017. $10. 9780714874180
BUYING ADVISORY: Pre-K- OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: LOW
Various sketches by Pablo Picasso are highlighted with sparse text. The pictures are very simplistic and take some abstract visualization to see what they represent.
For the age range that this book is geared too, I think it might be too complex. It does take some interpretation to see what is supposed to be seen. The text aids in helping identify the animals, but a lot of the captioning is superfluous and is unnecessary. There is an explanation as to who Picasso is and copies of his actual sketchbooks are shown.
Shay, High School Librarian, MLS
https://kissthebookjr.blogspot.com/20...
BUYING ADVISORY: Pre-K- OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: LOW
Various sketches by Pablo Picasso are highlighted with sparse text. The pictures are very simplistic and take some abstract visualization to see what they represent.
For the age range that this book is geared too, I think it might be too complex. It does take some interpretation to see what is supposed to be seen. The text aids in helping identify the animals, but a lot of the captioning is superfluous and is unnecessary. There is an explanation as to who Picasso is and copies of his actual sketchbooks are shown.
Shay, High School Librarian, MLS
https://kissthebookjr.blogspot.com/20...
March 10, 2026
Found archived on openlibrary.org. Fantastic. I love the segues linking the concepts along a sort of wiggly line... like the art, all wiggly lines.... I would have loved this as a child and, perhaps, been more primed to be more interested in more abstractish art. Highly recommended. It'll take you two minutes to flip through the first time.
May 5, 2025
Woah!! I did not expect to love this concept but it's very very cool. Great information and thought-provoking questions, too. There's so much you could do with this book.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews