Unico nel suo genere. Una storia sul raggruppare e classificare

by Neil Packer, Sara Saorin (Translator)

Il regno animale, i mezzi di trasporto, gli strumenti musicali, l'arte e le correnti architettoniche, persino le nuvole nel cielo... qualsiasi cosa può essere classificata in gruppi! Nella cornice di un dialogo tra padre e figlio, questo è un libro sulle categorie: durante un viaggio verso la città, un ragazzino esplora i molti modi in cui classifichiamo il mondo intorno a noi, con esiti stupefacenti. Uno picture book che gioca con l'idea della "classificazione". Illustrazioni originali si sposano a un testo essenziale ma rigoroso. Il finale è un toccante colpo di scena per riflettere sull'unicità di ciascuno di noi. Vincitore Bologna Ragazzi Award 2021 Non-fiction. Età di lettura: da 6 anni.

Genres: Picture Books, Nonfiction, Science, Childrens, Middle Grade, Animals

48 pages, Hardcover

Published February 1, 2022

About the author

Neil Packer is the illustrator of several classic books, including One Hundred Years of Solitude. His illustrations for The Odyssey took many years — "Nearly as long as Odysseus’s journey!" he says. He lives in London.

Reviews

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating book to peruse! It shows the various classifications we use daily: the animal kingdom, the Dewey Decimal System, timelines, varieties of apples, family trees and more!

[Allie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I could have lost hours to this book. If I had read it as a kid, I certainly would have. It's about Arvo, a boy who has a cat and is learning to play violin. There isn't much of a story, but there certainly is a lot happening. On every page, wherever Arvo is, the illustrations explore how we classify whatever he's doing. We classify people (family trees), instruments, cats, apples, tools, buildings, and basically everything else. Everything fits somewhere. My favorite pages were about the town where he lives. You first get an aerial view of the town where all the buildings are classified (stores, houses, government, restaurants, performance, etc.), then they are all reclassified based on when they were built. There are so many ways of looking at each picture (at any picture!), and I think this would be a really excellent book for an inquisitive child who likes to seek-and-find, likes sorting, or just likes looking. I really liked it!

[Alex Baugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first, a book about sorting and classifying may seem like an odd gift choice, and more like a topic kids might study in school. But once readers open this book, they will meet Arvo and travel with him throughout his day. learning how Arvo and the individual objects he comes into contact with belong to much larger but related groups. For example, Arvo belongs to a whole family tree that goes back generations and includes a diverse number of people. Arvo's cat Malcolm belongs to a large family of all kinds of cats, and Arvo's violin belongs to a whole group of instruments. The book goes on like that, until the end when it circles back to the one-of-a-kind individual. By the end of Arvo's day, readers will definitely appreciate the idea of sorting things as a way to making sense of the world. As the author says, imagine trying to find a library book without the benefit of classifying them. I thought the mixed media illustrations in this oversized book were wonderfully quirky with a kind of old-fashioned feeling to them and spent quite a bit of time exploring them, especially the wide variety of apples Arvo found in the farmers' market until I found my individual favorite, the honeycrisp. This is surely a book that young and old readers will enjoy alone and together.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Filled with inviting pages of information, illustrations created for furthering the explanations of each topic, all making one want to know more. I've done various kinds of exercises and explorations into sorting, would love to have had this book to pore over. learning about this author's approaches. There are terrific explanations of family trees, cats, the animal kingdom, tools, cheese, and more! All are presented in enticing colored arrangements. There is extra information about all fourteen sorting and classifying examples given at the back, too!
Thanks to Candlewick Press for this copy!

[Lisa]

This oversized book looked SO COOL to me at the library, and I thought my 4 year old would like it, but he didn't seem to find a foothold in it.

[Jackie Ostrowicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully illustrated book about sorting in classifying that is both entertaining and interesting. Neil Packer did a great job of showing how things can be organized into categories from complex to random.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Colorful mixed media illustrations complement the text, which focuses on the many different ways that it is possible to sort or classify living things and objects. The author begins with one boy, Arvo, and then traces his lineage on his maternal and paternal side back four generations. Next, he introduces Arvo's cat Malcolm and his relationship to other felines, and then their connections to the animal kingdom. Still harkening back to Arvo, the author provides examples of musical instruments, vehicles, tools, and cloud types. Next, readers are shown several different buildings, which could be sorted according to their purpose, their age or their composition or material used. Sixty-six different types of apples are for sale at the market, and Arvo visits the library where books are sorted by subject. Additional spreads are devoted to types of cheese, types of artwork, and the evolutionary timeline before coming back to Arvo in his magnificent uniqueness, part of several of these groups but still the only Arvo quite like himself. As compelling as the images and sorting are, readers won't want to miss the author's notes for each of the double-page spreads since they add to what they learn from each one. I can imagine many of my students drooling over this book's contents and not wanting to let anyone else read it. It really is amazing to think how interconnected we all are and how useful grouping, sorting, and classifying can be.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here is another exceptional book for children to learn and understand the concept of classification systems. Whether thinking about Human families, animal families, musical instruments or even things like tools or modes of transportation. We begin with a young boy gaining an understanding of his human family and then progressing tis pet cat and a cat's lineage.

Detailed and so interesting with double paged illustrations, this book makes the concept of learning about categories to which things and people belong so fascinating. Simple text was a plus in not making the volume of material covered overwhelming. The target range is Grades 2-5 for this one.

[Eve Costarelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book I would have definitely bought for my son when he was young. Through carefully collected pictures, this book categorizes everything from family trees, musical instruments, transportation and even how to make categories of categories. This book is the organizer and list makers dream. The illustrations have a fun, vintage feel and the simple narrative highlights the groups. This book is perfect for the budding scientist, interior decorator or personal organizer. So much fun!

[Jj · Rating 4 out of 5]

An engrossing read, and definitely will appeal to some kids, especially budding scientists, and those who love to go all-in on dinosaurs, trains, Pokemon, and other complex groups of things.

I do really wish the author had included the note about how it is "useful and interesting to order things, it is equally important not to" at the beginning as well as the end.

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a delightful book! Great introduction to the subject, and really interesting and enthralling art.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, a book that will be looked at over and over again.

[Chris Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful, brilliant, as simple or complex as you want it to be. Perfect book to hand to curious kids who like to figure out how the world fits together. Highly recommended for ages 4-9.

[Debra Lilly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This lovely oversized picture book follows Arvo, a young man who likes to categorize the items he encounters. Some very interesting categories and very cool artwork!

[Becky B · Rating 3 out of 5]

A boy called Arvo explores ways we classify, sort, and organize things in our world as he thinks about his family, his cat's family, things he sees around the city, and dives into books in the library.

I don't know of any other book in our library for kids on organizing and sorting and classification. I like how this explores various groupings from tools to musical instruments to family trees to different ways to group buildings (age, building material, or what they're used for) to apples and art styles. The art style is very unique. I can see this finding a niche audience of kids who will be enthralled with the idea of sorting things in different ways and how that helps us make sense of our world. There's further discussion on each organizational topic in the back of the book. I'm trying to figure out the audience of this book. Is it for middle graders? Is it for lower graders? I guess it could work for either one.

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.

[Callie Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gasped with joy multiple times looking at this book.

[Tyjah Valentine · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most beautiful art.

[Catherine Mustread]

Great picture book about classification and sorting.