Five Creatures

Often the simplest of ideas make for some of the most entertaining and enlightening children's stories: case in point, this iconographic animated adaptation of Emily Jenkins' ALA Notable Book Five Creatures (2001), illustrated by Tomek Bogacki. Remember Venn diagrams--those intersecting circles in grade school math defining the relationships between various subjects? Well, Jenkins' delightful, pastel-textured dissection of a family--winsomely narrated by Kristen Hahn as a small girl living with her mother, father, and two cats--reminds us of the differences and similarities (not all of them predictable) between parents, children and pets. Of the five family members, we are told, there are: "three who don't like taking baths," "four who can open cupboards," "five who love birds; but not all in the same way," and "two who lick each other, but five who kiss each other." Backed by a bouncy soundtrack from Jerry Dale McFadden, this is a warm, funny, and rather clever film that combines elementary math with smiles-of-recognition observations about interspecies relationships in a loving household with pets. Recommended. Aud: K, E, P. (R. Pitman)