Thanks to Text Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this story! All opinions are still very much my own

3.5 Stars*

So here's the thing. I'm not typically a fan of books written in verse. I always find them a bit too abstract and leave the book without feeling like I fully get the story. This book was the easiest to grasp out of all of the ones I've tried, and I actually quite liked the format.

That being said, the story itself wasn't the most compelling to me as I don't really feel like there was all that much development. It follows a young girl and her exploration of taxidermy as a way to cope with the grief she's faced after losing her mother. As a concept, I thought that sounded great, and it was, it was just generally a little bland.

There was also a weird vaguely romantic side plot involving a friend who is one of the very few black kids at her school, but again, this didn't seem fully developed and didn't really add much in my opinion.

This was very well written, with really beautiful prose, but I just found it all a little meh.

Trigger and Content Warnings: loss of a loved one, death of an animal, descriptions of dead animals, taxidermy described in detail, racism, underlying sexism and "girls must do _____" attitude.

3 1/2 stars.

This entire story is written in a prose style via a series of poems. All of the poems are written in first person from the point of view of Charlotte (Lottie), the preteen narrator. It's a rather imaginative way to write a book and I have to say that it actually works pretty well. I enjoyed the style and the writing. It felt comfortable and appropriate for the character.

There was a keen sense of mystery surrounding some of the bits and pieces of the story, which came to light through the pages a little bit at a time. It is rather cleverly done and I enjoyed the movement of the story.

My only issue with this one (as tends to be my downfall on many an occasion) was the ending. I left the story feeling unfulfilled. This isn't to say that the ending is a bad one. It wraps up in a way that makes sense given the previous pieces of narrative. I just couldn't get myself settled with it. Perhaps that is some of the intention, but I didn't like the uncomfortable way leaving it made me feel.

A wonderfully lyrical and visceral book about grief, The Art of Taxidermy is the story of a young girl who has lost too much and the Aunt and grieving Father who are each trying in their own way to help her come to terms with it. When eleven year old Charlotte develops a fascination with taxidermy following a visit to a museum, it is clear that it is part of her interest in death, funeral customs and remains which stem from the death of her mother. While she tries to preserve the remains of various birds and animals she finds, she also tries to preserve her mother's memory in the family home and while her Father is accepting of her curious nature, her Aunt finds it macabre and most unsuitable for a young girl.
Charlotte's grief may be the main focus of the story, but we also see glimpses of other forms of grief through the exploration of the relationships of other family members such as her Grandmother and Grandfather. The entire book is written in verse, and it is a form that I felt worked very well here. The author is able to convey both complex emotions and the beauty of nature, which is unexpected when talking about animal remains. The book has a historical setting and some interesting period details are cleverly worked into the story in a way that makes the reader think.
I read a review copy courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

Such an odd little novel in verse about a very odd little girl. Perfect for middle grade readers looking for a darker subject matter (death!)

ARC provided by NetGalley and Text Publishing in exchange for an honest review!

I judged this book by it's cover. It is so beautiful.
This is a book written in Verse.

As much as i wanted to love this, I just could not get into it.
i will be honest and say i DNF'd this at around 45%.


“I keep them because I love them. I keep them because they are beautiful. And then I surprised myself and said: I keep them because they remind me of Mother.”

At first, I didn’t think I was going to like this. It is a weird premise for a book. But wow, I was wrong. This prose was beautiful and understated. And it had me thinking of Tim Burton meets Vada from My Girl set in Australia. I just wanted to reach out and hug Charlotte. You really feel for her and eventually her family as you learn their tragic history. I had no idea how Germans, Japanese and Italians were treated in Australia during WWII. I was able to read this in one sitting and it’s going to sit with me for awhile.
TW: As the title suggests, there is a lot of death involved.

This may have hit a little too close to home.

I have had my share of loss in my life especially the loss of my sister a few years ago so I highly identified with our main character Charlotte or “Lottie.”

This book is beautiful in prose and a unique way of telling a story. I already love poetry so this was a home run in more than one way for me. Everything from the description of the dead animals and her interactions with her “specimens” to Aunt Hilda finding her hobby disgusting and unusual captured my attention from the first word to the last. I felt the emotions shared by each character which is something I look for in every good novel.

Anyone feeling misunderstood or alone should read this book. It will help you feel like you’re less strange than you’ve been told.

I gave it four solid stars because that’s what I believed it deserved. NetGalley provided an electronic copy to me via the publisher The Text Publishing Company (Australia) for an honest review which I provided here and on my instagram LetRachelRead.

Thanks!

Lottie collects dead creatures and lovingly cares for them, hoping to preserve them, to save them from disintegration. Her father understands—Lottie has a scientific mind, he thinks. Her aunt wants it to stop, and she goes to cruel lengths to make sure it does.

Such a poetic like novel. The storyline is unlike anything I have read, and the illustrations were a great touch.

The writing was beautiful, but, unfortunately, that was not enough to keep me invested in the story.

I requested this because the taxidermy aspect sounded interesting. Unfortunately, I didn't find the characters very interesting, and I couldn't engage with the story.

I was not expecting The Art of Taxidermy to be a novel in verse, so I was a little surprised when I started reading it. Before this year, I'd never read a novel in verse and I'm still not really sure what I think of them. Style wise, I don't know if this one worked for me, but that doesn't mean it won't work for other people! Content wise, I found this book to be super compelling! I loved the story line and the twist about Annie, but more importantly, I love that the book made me think about taxidermy. Like, I'm sure most people, I know nothing about taxidermy. This book made me think differently about taxidermy, as a celebration of life instead of a weird sort of hobby fetish thing that helps folks celebrate their kills. I appreciated the change in perspective. If you can handle books written in verse, I think it's worth checking this one out!

I didn't realise this was a verse novel, and I wasn't sure if I was completely on board with it as it felt a little gimmicky. That having been said, I did like the uniqueness it lent the story, so it was a case of swings and roundabouts - and once I got a couple of chapters in, I stopped noticing it as much.

"The Art of Taxidermy" follows Lottie, who is searching for a way to connect with her dead mother. Cue an obsession with death and preservation in the form of taxidermy. Lottie's father supports her hobby, thinking it a sign of a scientific mind, but her Aunt Hilda is hellbent on destroying Lottie's creations.

This book explores some huge themes - grief and how we adapt to it, loss, trauma - and does it well, for the most part. I did find the story a little repetitive in places, and some of the descriptions of the dead animals are fairly graphic, so this may not be the book for you if you're squeamish, but if you like your novels with a dark edge, you'll enjoy reading this unique and well-written novel.

NOTE: I was provided with a free ARC copy of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Art of Taxidermy follows a young girl who becomes interested in death, and later taxidermy, after the death of her mother. Now living with her father- who tries to help, but is ultimately struggling with his own grief- and her aunt- who doesn’t think these are suitable interests for a girl- Lottie hides her pursuits and struggles to find her place in the world.

This book was written in verse and there are certainly some beautiful extracts and poems throughout the book. However, unlike some other verse novels I have read, this one failed to make an emotional connection with me and the plot (or lack of plot) made it a slog, to the point where I didn’t want to read, as I really didn’t want to finish the book.

Moreover, while I appreciate Lottie’s interest in taxidermy (and the author showing that girls can do this to), I do think that her interest came out of her mother’s death and this wasn’t really dealt with in the novel.

This one wasn’t for me, and I probably wouldn’t purchase it for my library.

The book had an interesting concept and some well written poetry. The plot was a little slow moving and felt repetitious at times. I thought that way it dealt with grief and moving forward was inventive.

The Art of Taxidermy

I am always a little hesitant of books written in verse as there seems to be a recent surge in the genre. Often times I feel that the stories told do not match the genre and would have been better told as prose but this is absolutely not the case with The Art of Taxidermy. The Art of Taxidermy follows Lottie and tells the story of how she “fell in love with death”, exploring loss within Lottie’s family and how they all grieve/ cope. Poetry was the perfect medium to show this, specifically Lottie’s observations and descriptions of nature as Kernot’s style reads like a story, almost like a beautiful fairytale (just without the princess). Kernot found ways to include scientific names, animal terminology, sketches, and some history towards the end of the book, that educate the reader while still keeping them intrigued in Lottie’s story. The Art of Taxidermy brings beauty to death.

I feel it is important to note that the poems do at times get a little descriptive about death and decay which may make some readers queasy or uncomfortable, but this is necessary to understand Lottie’s character. There were also a few times where I had difficulty distinguishing between quotes and narration when a poem included quotes but this was easy to move past. I still loved this book and gave it 4 out of 5 stars (but probably closer to 4.5 out of 5 stars).

Charlotte, or Lottie, is fascinated by death. Her mother died when Lottie was young. She collects animal carcasses. She wants to make them beautiful again. Her aunt thinks she’s killing the animals, she thinks is not right for a young woman. Her father is a professor and doesn’t see the problem with her fascination. But when her aunt throws out her babies, Lottie’s world comes crashing down. Can she convince her family that she isn’t sick in the head?
This was a story of love and death and coming to terms with what life brings.
I didn’t know what to expect from The Art of Taxidermy at all. I only knew it was a novel written in prose. But I really enjoyed this one. It was a quick read but I really enjoyed following along with Lottie on her journey dealing with her mother’s death. I’d recommend this to anyone that likes a dark, meaningful read written in a unique style.

This was a heartbreaking book and when I requested it on Netgalley, I did not expect it to be in verse but I think it was done really well. I got really into the story and sped through it in a couple of hours.

I didn't realise that the writing of this book will be different. It was definitely a good reading experience. I really enjoyed how the author dealt with writing about grief in this book. It's raw and powerful, a very different approach to most books I've read that talk about grief.

I have to say though that it took me a while to truly enjoy it but overall it is a beautiful book!

The main thing that attracted me to this book was the gorgeous cover. The second thing was the addition in the summary about it being a book exploring the ways people grieve. I didn't realize it was written in verse, a format I'm not too familiar with, but despite that, I still found myself being enthralled by Lottie's story and her journey as well as that of her family.

The Art of Taxidermy follows Lottie as she discovers the preserved remains of dead animals and takes them as her treasures along with her sister, Annie. It also follows her the members of her family from the eyes of Lottie and the different ways they grieve the death of their loved ones. Lottie herself has lost her mother, but she finds comfort in the remains that she finds. Lottie's Aunt Hilda doesn't approve of this because it isn't proper for a girl to play with dead things, but Lottie's father does. He takes her to the museum where she learns about taxidermy and the art of bringing things that were once dead back to life. This starts her journey throughout the rest of the story and the lessons she learns. There's also a bit of historical fiction in this since Lottie's family are from Germany and lived in Australia during World War II.

Lottie's continuous desire to find dead animals and their beauty is something that is gorgeously done in this book. From the way the author crafts the poems to the words she chooses, it brought a beauty to death that was also from the perspective of a grieving 12 year old girl. It also isn't afraid to talk about the death of a loved one and the different ways we cope with it. The Art of Taxidermy, though short, still manages to explore four different people and we see how they each grieve. One of them closes up about their lost one, another goes to the place to mourn them, one chooses to ignore the dead's belongings and hides them, and another tries to know who they were and understand them when they were alive.

The Art of Taxidermy is a story about coping with death and the beauty surrounding it. It tells us that mourning for our dead is okay and there are different ways we cope with it as humans. It tells us keeping them alive is how we celebrate the dead and remember them. This is the primary plot of the story, and it does it well.

Overall, The Art of Taxidermy is a beautiful read with whimsical read and gorgeous illustrations that will keep the reader enchanted throughout it. I would recommend this to people who are fans of verse writing and those seeking a quick read that still holds a powerful message.

This was a beautifully written book dealing with death and grief. I feel that people, especially Americans, are way too squeamish and scared of death. It is one of the most natural things in the universe; everyone dies. Yet if people talk about it too much, or are interested in death related hobbies such as taxidermy, others deem them weird, death obsessive, or even mentally ill, as was the case in this book. Lottie’s aunt thought she was being too weird, that she had issues, that she wasn’t being lady like. But Lottie was dealing with grief and death in her own way. She loved the bones and the animals she collected. She realized that death can still be beautiful and understood, and she knew that this was helping her to cope. She didn’t think was she was doing was weird or wrong, and it wasn’t. It brought her closer to those she had lost, and helped her deal with their deaths. If more people realized that talking about death doesn’t make you automatically depressed, that it doesn’t make you weird, then maybe we can move past our fear of it.

The first few pages of The Art of Taxidermy confused me as I didn’t know it was a verse novel. What I thought was just an introductory poem, was really the start of the actual novel. There were so few words that I found it difficult to create an image for myself. I’m a very visual person when reading, and I need to be able to make the story into a sort of personal movie in my head to be able to enjoy it. That is very difficult to do with this type of novel, though the poetry was beautifully written.

I wish this had been an actual novel, because the story itself was very captivating as well as sad. It’s about Lottie, a young girl who is descendant from Germans who fled the war, but who now lives in Australia and is obsessed with death. When you continue reading, you realise that she has had to experience so much death in her young life already that it is bound to have a certain influence on her. She turns to taxidermy as a way to prove to herself that death is not the end. Though her aunt finds this repulsive, her father sees the beauty in it, and encourages her to study the science.

Though the poems were quite short, they gave away plenty of information and in the end they made up one complete story. There were many little details tucked away in the lines that created beautiful images. I just wish there was more to read.