Whose Bones Are Those?

Inventive and stylish, informative and whimsical, this conceptual picture book from a noted cut-paper artist invites young readers to “guess the animal” by perusing its bones.

Whose bones? A scattering of tiny bones, spread across a vivid background, seem to offer no clues. But turn the page and the bones have elegantly come together, revealing the form of a snake or a lion, a crocodile or an elephant, a flamingo or even a whale. Every vibrant spread of this fascinating book features the skeleton—and also a stylized representation—of a different animal. Even the youngest of readers are invited to scrutinize the visual clues to figure out whose bones are portrayed in this fascinating introduction to vertebrates.

Chihiro Takeuchi is a renowned cut-paper artist and the creator of several books, including Paper Peek: Colors, Paper Peek: Animals, and Paper Peek: Alphabet. She lives in Osaka, Japan.