I loved that this book isn’t written like a normal book almost like poetry about a young girl finding the beauty in death

The Art of Taxidermy is a novel written in free verse about grief and loss and death, and its depiction of these topics is so raw and honest. There's a lot of morbidity in this book--how could there not be when it's about amateur taxidermy?--but ultimately it offers optimism and healing and the idea that life can come from death, in a way. The Art of Taxidermy is real and beautifully written. 

One of the things I appreciated about this book is that it discusses the complexities of grief and how much it can twist your entire world upside down. After the death of her mother and sister, Lottie develops a morbid fascination with dead animals. It doesn't stem from violence; it stems from her need to understand death. 

There's lots of interesting discussions of binary thinking in this book: masculinity vs. femininity, death vs. life, black vs. white, and the author tries to break these down through showing Lottie's opposition to her aunt, who keeps trying to steer her away from her fascination with science and dead animals and onto more "girlish" things like sewing (but unknowingly gives her the tools to proceed in amateur taxidermy). Lottie gives life to dead animals through trying to preserve them. Also, her friendship with an Australian Aboriginal boy factors into this as well, but a he's a minor character in the whole scheme of things. 

Even though this book was beautifully written and raised a lot of interesting questions, I didn't find myself interested in what was going on most of the time. A lot of the book seems repetitive--Lottie sees dead animals, brings them home, and her aunt gets angry at her and her father encourages her. While this is meant to show a longstanding fascination with death it gets tiring after a while. 

All in all I think this is a well-written free-verse book that will probably be enjoyed by those who like poetry and words more than the plot and characters.

This book....was special.
It isn't your typical novel. It's almost like a poem, or a journal entry. A young girl thinking about death, connecting to it that makes her family members think she's gone mad. Keeping dead animals around, taking photos of them...it's not normal...for some. When your mother and sister have died, and you wonder why, and can't really move on from it, the only way you can have peace is to resurrect the dead. Taxidermy comes in. Even wearing of clothes and jewelry, keeping the room the dead have lived in..all part of the process.

What instantly drew me to The Art Of Taxidermy was the unique poetic verse the author uses to create a beautiful tale of loss, and understanding. Within the passing of a loved one the main character unknowingly seeks understanding through her curiosity of wildlife, and the structural body. With the wide eyed innocence of a child oblivious as to why her actions are considered strange it resonated on a personal level. The supportive role her father portrayed was refreshing, and heartwarming as he subtly encourages his daughter, and her inquisitive nature into the world of science without ever for a second pausing to acknowledge the societal pressure.

Set within Australia it was wonderful to see the scenery brought to life through imagery, and in some cases prompting further research into particular species, and greenery. With a diverse cast of characters who resonate deeply, and a historical past that took the reader by surprise - the novel left in it's wake thought provoking questions.

Highly recommend for those who love poetry, and vivid imagery. It is not a tale for the faint of heart, and delves seamlessly into deep conversational topics within a few pages. Breaking the mold of young adult literature; it is exactly what our day in age requires as prejudice, assumptions, and sexism prevails.

Thank you Text Publishing for providing me with an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A heartbreaking verse novel about love and death, grief and beauty, and the very individual ways we make sense of it all.
Lottie, the daughter of German migrants, develops a fascination for death after losing her mother at a young age. When Lottie begins collecting dead animals, her aunt tries to redirect her energies into more 'feminine' activities. But her father encourages her interest, recognizing a scientist's curiosity.

4.5 Stars

so this book is a book I would normally go for because it's a verses book and I've not had much luck with them in the past, but this one really changed my mind about the style of writing. I loved this book. I am a slow reader and this book only took me 4 days to read, it was very fast paced and intriguing. I loved the main character Lottie as she reminds me a bit like myself, as a person that loves forensic science and has qualifications in the study, this book really appealed to me, I a not a big fan of taxidermy but through this book I have learnt quite a lot about it, and it really isn't much different from autopsies of a human. I feel like this is the reason I got on well with this book and why I really enjoyed it.

The plot of the book was great, and the parts of history, mentioning the war and indigenous tribes and parts about Egypt and Egyptians. I really learnt a lot in this book, like different names or bones and body parts that I actually didn't know the name of, I learnt about different species of birds that I didn't know existed.
overall this book is amazing, and I would highly recommend this book to anyone that is interested in science.

A few of my favourite quotes:
"decomposition akin to art,
the shrivelled limbs,
the shrunken shoulders and chest,
the exposed clavicle,
the long ropey necks,
the perfectly preserved ear,
the missing nose,
the full head of hair crowning the withered face."

"She has a scientist's heart. It is in the genes. She is curious and she is bright."

"The man in the coffin did not resemble my uncle. the essence of him had gone. His spirit had gone, and in his place a prostrate lifeless statue lay"

Thank you to NetGalley, Sharon Kernot, and Text Publishing for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Two things drew me to request this novel: the fact that it is written in a poetic format, and my own odd interest in taxidermy. When I taught 8th grade, one of the stories taught in the short story unit is Roald Dahl's "The Landlady," a creepy story in which the Landlady of a bed and breakfast keeps her guests...forever! It's a fun creepy tale that introduces students to taxidermy, and they love it.

The Art of Taxidermy doesn't have the same creepy feel, but more a childhood curiosity into keeping animals after death. After Lottie's mother dies, the little girl has a strange fascination with death. She collects dead animals, takes pictures of death things, and writes poems about death. She is living in Australia, but her family is from Germany, which already makes her more of an outcast, so why not collect dead creatures on top of that?

Lottie's aunt does not approve of this hobby, and even goes so far as to throw away or burn Lottie's collection, saying it's not normal, especially for a young girl. When Lotie's aunt tries to coax her into thinking of a career in nursing, Lottie denies any interest. She wants to do one thing and one thing only when she grows up: be a taxidermist at the local museum. After getting a chance to learn and practice with the museum taxidermist, she knows that's what is right for her, and her father supports her interest. Who cares if a boy would never want to marry a girl who stuffs dead things? Lottie knows who she is and what she wants to do, and her father will support that.

I love the message of this book. Death can be made beautiful in an artistic way. Also, encouraging youth to follow what they are interested in, rather than telling them they shouldn't be interested in this or that, is one of the reasons why I am a teacher. To foster every young person and help them find their interest, no matter where that interest may lay (as long as they aren't putting themselves or others in danger, of course). I love books written in a poetic style. They are a quick read and always quite enjoyable as to how they are structured. While the poetic verse of Ellen Hopkins will (probably) always be my favorite, Sharon Kernot has a beautiful way of presenting a tale through imagery in poetic verse, and I would love to see something like this from this author in future!

A beautiful novel a special novel a novel in verse.Full of loss emotion heart ache beautiful writing a very special read,@netgalley @textpublishiing.

Amazing. Just amazing from beginning to end. For anyone who has ever had an interest in the macabre but felt like they were abnormal because of it, this novel is for you. Sharon Kernot’s writing is stunningly gorgeous. Charlotte sounds like a genuine 12 year old, not someone who’s written by an adult who thinks they remember what it’s like to be 12, and that’s such a rare quality to find in authors who write literary pieces about adolescents and kids.

I could say so much more about this book, but I don’t want to give any of it away. Fellow deathlings can most definitely relate to Charlotte’s journey, and I can’t wait to see what else Sharon Kernot writes.

I have really been enjoying novels in verse lately, and this one was no different. It's so beautifully told with a gorgeous examination of grief that I found relatable and poignant. I greatly appreciated this book and look forward to more from the author.

I found this to be a beautiful novel about death and grief and the importance of loved ones and taxidermy (which I find fascinating). It is written in verse instead of your traditional novel format. This really is a touching and lovely book.

The Art of Taxidermy is a prose novel set in Australia, somewhere around the 1960s (I'm guessing, but our 11-year-old protagonist's father fought in WWII). It is the story of a girl who has faced an absolute onslaught of trauma in her short life, and the ways in which she copes.

I find it hard to critique this book because it is a prose novel. I've seen criticisms that there wasn't enough plot to keep a reader interested, and while I'll admit that there isn't too terribly much that happens, this didn't bother me for two reasons. 1) This book is very short, and I read it in about an hour. Because there are just so many fewer words on a page, there don't have to be as many plot points as one might expect in a typical novel. I had no trouble remaining interested in the story. I was never bored. 2) This book really isn't a plot-y book, if that makes sense. The Art of Taxidermy is an exploration of grief and one girl's journey through it. The vast majority of the story is just examining Lottie's psyche rather than describing things that happen to her.

Despite being about a young girl, this book is extremely dark and definitely somewhat macabre. Lottie's response to the death she has been forced to deal with is to become somewhat obsessed with it. At the beginning of the book, she is just collecting carcasses she finds while wandering, but this evolves into an interest in taxidermy, as the title might suggest. While Lottie never kills anything, there are fairly graphic descriptions of dead animals and her amateur attempts at taxidermy which might bother some readers.

There are very few other characters in The Art of Taxidermy besides Lottie, but I felt that this meant that they all felt necessary and all received a decent amount of characterization and backstory, which is somewhat surprising for a book so short (it is 240 pages long, but the entire book is made up of free verse poetry, so in the end it feels much, much shorter). I felt so much for Lottie's father, and her sister and grandmother were really interesting characters. Lottie befriends an Aboriginal boy, Jeffrey, who, although he receives less time than I expected, provides a much-needed escape for Lottie and brief moments of levity in an otherwise very sad book. (Sidebar, but I really enjoyed the tidbits of the book about WWII in Australia and on the indigenous peoples just from an educational standpoint) The only character I felt could have been done a little better was Lottie's Aunt Hilda, who is ultimately a caricature of traditional values and whose value is in acting as an obstacle for Lottie's unorthodox interest in taxidermy.

In the end, though, The Art of Taxidermy was made of beautiful poetry that left me feeling distinctly melancholic, but with just the right amount of hopefulness/optimism at the end to keep the book from being too much of a downer. I recommend this book for anyone who, like me, is looking for a quick read on a rainy day.

I’m torn on this one, it was good and the premise so interesting, but the book dragged quite a lot and was almost boring at times.

Hello, this review will go up on my blog, instagram, and goodreads on August 12,2019. I will also add to Amazon and Barnes & Noble (if applicable) on the publication date. I will add links to reviews when they are live.


Title: The Art of Taxidermy
Author: Sharon Kernot
Genre: YA Fiction/Poetry
Publication Date: August 23rd, 2019
Rating: 3 stars

eARC provided by publisher through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

->Click for Synopsis<-

The Art of Taxidermy is a verse novel about love and death, and the beauty that comes with it. Lottie takes us through her struggle of losing her mother and finding an outlet through taxidermy.

When I requested this book I guess I missed the part where it said verse novel but I am glad that I requested it because it turned out to be a wonderful surprise! 

The author's lyrical writing sweeps you into the fascination that Lottie has when it comes to taxidermy. Each piece has its own unique topic that come together with the rest. Taxidermy is an unusual topic and this verse novel does a great job of making it even more interesting and combining it with beautiful writing.

Overall, it was a good book to get me out of my comfort zone. If you are into verse novels with a wonderfully intriguing theme then this book is for you!

At the age of eleven
I fell in love
with death.

Lottie is 11 years old, and she has already experienced too much grief for a girl her age. Her mother is gone, dead, and her father cannot bring himself to clean out her room, leaving it as a shrine to the woman he loved instead. Opa is gone too. And still, Lottie has no friends except for a girl named Annie.

At least Annie is always with her if no one else wants to be around her.

One day, Lottie and Annie discover a dying bird, and Lottie takes it home, keeping the beautiful creature so it could live on even if it is no longer truly alive. This goes well for a while, until Aunt Hilda steps in as a mothering figure that no one asked for - taking the things that Lottie loves and throwing them into the incinerator because 'they aren't fit for a young girl'.

But how else is she supposed to deal with her grief if everything she loves just keeps getting taken away from her?

The revival and
re-creation of something
that has expired
is an honour
and a gift

There is something oddly fascinating with all things morbid, and I think that Sharon Kernot did an astounding job of turning something bizarre, such as taxidermy, into something beautiful. Lottie's story is no different. Understanding her story is like understanding our own - at the heart of it all, grief can either overwhelm us or we can overpower it. Lottie's ways may not be conventional, but they make her feel alive, even if she's not 'normal'.

I also loved the fact we got to touch on a lot of Australian history in this book. I am American, and in traditional American fashion, I only know about America's views of all the major wars (thanks history class!). It was so interesting to see how Germans were treated in Australia during the WWII/Hitler time period. And even more interesting was learning about the aboriginal people in Australia - honestly, a group that does not get highlighted enough to those who do not live in Australia.

This is a quick and easy read, but a worthwhile read all the same. If you are a fan of prose, you are going to be a fan of this!

A beautiful book written in free verse, about an eleven year old girl fascinated with dead things. It’s exactly my kind of morbid, and I loved Lottie’s constantly questioning voice. Some of the themes in this book reminded me of The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, though certainly more somber and less light-hearted; the misjudgments of Aunt Hilda were relatable and infuriating enough to keep me reading. The Art of Taxidermy is carefully thought out, complex, and a compelling read for people of any age.

The Art of Taxidermy has a lot going for it: beautiful writing, excellent crafting, and a look at grief that is nothing short of raw. Lottie's mother has passed, and Lottie has taken up an interest in science and death; specifically, she is captivated by dead animals and taxidermy. Her father indulges her, appreciates her scientific mind, and it's entirely possible that it's an interest she would have taken up with or without the grief she's experienced, but something about the obsessive nature of her thoughts leads me to think there's an implication of something fractured in the way she views the world without her mother in it.

There's also a bit of chat about indigenous people, with a side character, Lottie's friend, being an Aboriginal boy. I didn't actually realize this book was set in Australia at first, and I've never read a book featuring an Aboriginal character, so I really appreciated that as an addition.

The drawback to the entire book, though, and what made it impossible for me to give this more than 3.5 stars, is that I was bored. It sounds like the sort of story that should be innately interesting if only due to its gruesome nature (and it is gruesome, friends! Steer clear of this one if you're bothered by descriptions of dead animals), yet honestly, so little happens, and what does happen feels repetitive and somehow shallow. These are sad topics, yet I found it nearly impossible to feel anything about them, and I think that may be because Lottie is unfazed by anything that doesn't involve taxidermy.

This will be a great book for a lot of people, but sadly, I wasn't one of them.

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Art of Taxidermy is a book of heavy verses—snapshots of grief and coming of age angst. I like how the book explores the different ways we hang on to loved ones who are no longer with us. What is the difference between resurrecting a dead bird into a lifeless version of itself and keeping a photograph?

I am not usually a fan of books that are just prose with line breaks and this one was not an exception. The imagery became too repetitive after a while. The story may have been better as a few poems or prose. What a beautiful cover, though!

a touching verse novel about grief and taxidermy; I received a copy via Netgalley and finished it an hour later. lovely descriptive writing that gave me a newfound appreciation for taxidermy