Who’s Looking? How Animals See the World

Who’s Looking? How Animals See the World, the first picture book from award-winning author Carol Matas, provides a fascinating look at the world around us. Inspired by a conversation Matas had with her grandson while they walked home from a trip to the park, this nonfiction offering insightfully explores how humans and animals and insects see things differently.

Over the course of a year, a young girl and her newborn sister grow and explore their surroundings together. An information box on each double-page spread invites readers to consider the world from a different perspective. For instance, “If you were a little baby, everything could look like this.” The text explains babies are born with good vision but can only see what is close to them. The accompanying acrylic, ink and pencil artwork by Cornelia Li extends the meaning, brilliantly illustrating a baby’s field of vision, depth perception and colour awareness. While the outdoor setting is full of lush greenery, everything in the baby’s sight line is shown in charcoal gray.

In springtime, big sister and little sis (outfitted in a onesie) sit outside on a plaid picnic blanket. An insect watches them, and readers see how blurry the world appears to an ant. In sharp contrast, “If you were a dragonfly”, you’d have spectacular, almost 360-degree vision, and could see a rainbow of colours. The luminous scene shows a dragonfly watching the older sister pushing her young charge in a stroller amidst a kaleidoscope of brightly hued flowers and leaves.

Throughout the seasons, the siblings enjoy nature and a fuller picture of how animals see the world is thoughtfully presented: “What does the world look like? It depends on who’s looking.” If you were an eagle, you’d have “the best vision of all creatures, as far as we know.” While mice are almost blind compared to humans, they have a special cell in their eyes that can sense movement. In contrast to humans, owls cannot move their eyes, but they more than make up for it with the ability to turn their heads by as much as 270 degrees.

The conversational text is well-organized, succinct, child-friendly and inquisitive. Many interesting facts are woven throughout, such as owls have three eyelids; baby rabbits open their eyes when they are ten days old; and mice are colour-blind. Scientific vocabulary is explained in a crystal clear, easily-understood manner: “Some people see things better when they are close to them, which is called being nearsighted”; and goats have panoramic vision, “which means they can see far and wide.”
Encouraging close observation, Who’s Looking? is an eye-opening STEAM (science, technology, engineering, the arts, and math) picture book.