In this whodunit for children, the Queen is having a Ball. When the lights go out, her shadow is done. While Detective Mantis Shrimp, questions all the guests, the reader will learn many things about how each animal sees. When the shadow is found, in another room, all the guests leave the castle leaving all their shadows behind. At the end of the story are several explanatory pages about vision. Some children may love this story, but for me it was just okay.

Thanks to Netgalley and Kids Can Press for the opportunity to read and review this book. ( )

Imaginative, abstract, and somewhat surreal but this book would be more effective without the fictional story. The animals are fascinating enough without it. ( )

(ARC was provided to read and review.)

It's time for the Queen's Ball and just the most important nobility is invited. The guests are a rather unusual group. All are animals, a colossal squid is there, as well as a dove or a goat, there's a shark and a beautiful dragonfly.
The weather during the evening isn't the best, and all of a sudden, a lightning strikes. The lights go out in the Queen's castle and when they come back on, something terrible has happened. Where's the Queen's shadow?
The Queen is in great distress, someone has stolen her shadow. The Royal Detective - Mantis Shrimp - immediately starts his inquiry.
Step by step every single animal in the room is accused by the other guests to have committed the crime and they have to defend themselves, which happens in the most unique way.
The animals use their vision, to explain, that they are not guilty.
Eventually the puzzle is solved, but who stole the Queens shadow?

I love books like this, where the author uses her amazing imagination and creativity, to come up with a unique and fun idea to teach children how certain animals see the world around them.
The illustrations are as stunning. Beautiful drawings, carefully filled in with colour where necessary, are stylish and in a very entertaining way, educational. The solution to the puzzle is unexpected and clever fun.

But there's much more to the book, than meets the eye.
It also explains under the header "What is vision?" how we see what we see, and futher information about the animals in the book is provided.
A glossary at the end, explains words like arthropod and infrared.

Excellent und unique example, that learning can be a lot of fun and a book, which both, children and adults will enjoy to read. ( )

THE QUEEN’S SHADOW: A STORY ABOUT HOW ANIMALS SEE by Cybele Young is a beautifully illustrated informational picture book. When the Queen’s shadow is stolen, each creature contributes a piece of evidence that helps to solve the crime.

Designed for ages 7 through 11, the ingenious story masterfully incorporates factual information about animal sight while telling an engaging story.

Young weaves together distinctive collages of digital, pen-and-ink illustrations. Of particular note are the close-ups demonstrating how animals such as the pigeon sees.

Younger children may have difficulty distinguishing the factual information about vision from the imaginary aspects related to losing a shadow. As such, this is a book that would work better in a small group learning environment than as a book for independent reading.

At the end of the book, factual information is provided about how vision works along with descriptions of the animals in the book. The backmatter also includes a useful glossary.

This informational picture book provides endless possibilities for library-classroom partnerships. Involve children in writing their own stories about how animals see. Or, ask them to research other animals senses and write detective stories about those.

Available March 1, 2015 and published by Kids Can Press, a NetGalley ARC was used for the review. ( )