Discover a lepe of leopards, a company of parrots, and a stream of minnows in this glorious visual introduction to the animal kingdom sumptuously illustrated by internationally acclaimed picture-book artist, Brian Wildsmith. This is much more than a picture book, it's like stepping into an art gallery.

This beautiful book will delight young animal lovers. Through evocative paintings, children are brought face to face with wildlife from around the world. Brian Wildsmith has captured the essence of each animal - from the playfulness of otters to a noisy gathering of parrots. His panoramic pictures also give a real sense of the animals' habitats-from a sun-soaked plain where elephants roam to icy Antarctica where penguins huddle together. Collective nouns - some

familiar, others wonderfully surprising - are used to describe each group of animals. This is a book that will inspire a love of nature and a respect for animals from the earliest age.

Animal Gallery is quite simply breathtaking.

His explorations of the natural world offer rich visual experiences. The baby owl's feathers . . . have a thistledown texture that makes you want to blow on the page . . . Fishes are speckled, stippled and splattered, and-with the subtle stained-glass luminosity of the underwater world-are as much paintings in their own right as they are illustrations.

His paintings allow us to step into lush landscapes