BOOK REVIEW: PICTURE BOOK – ANIMAL SNACKERS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Lewin, Betsy. 2004. ANIMAL SNACKERS. New York: Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 0805067485

PLOT SUMMARY

There is no plot. Betsy Lewin uses humorous poetry with one basic fact about each individual animals eating habit.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Preschool – Grade 3

Betsy Lewin has revised her own 1980’s version; she takes 12 animals from around the world and entertains children with one of their unique eating habits. She accomplishes this through imagery: (“koalas decorate the trees”, “tongue is long and sticky”), understatement (“snack on tender bamboo shoots”, “stone….he must swallow  so indigestion does not follow”), and simile (“His snout is like a hose”).  She also uses different rhyming patterns: 1^st and 2^nd lines rhyme, 3^rd and 4^th lines rhyme, 1^st and 3^rd lines rhyme, and the 2^nd and 4^th lines rhyme.  The text includes some vocabulary for older children such as brutes, carnivorous, indigestion, eucalyptus, derring-do, herring, kelp, brine, and abalone.

Betsy’s illustrations are child-like watercolors of the animal and what they are eating.  These pictures are fun to look at (not scary), full page, and easily recognizable. They make eating look fun and may inspire children to try new foods.

AWARDS
None

REVIEW EXCERPTS

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL (Spring 2005): “whimsical poems… colorful creatures… lighthearted verses… delectable book”

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL (Oct 2004): “her poems have a greater simplicity, making them more accessible to a younger audience… the new art offers clearer and more naturalistic images of the snacking creatures”

KIRKUS REVIEWS (8-15-2004): “It's a light brush with natural history that will leave young readers and listeners rolling in the aisles”

CONNECTIONS

Turner, Barrie Carson. CARNIVAL OF THE ANIMALS : POEMS INSPIRED BY SAINT-SAËNS' MUSIC. ISBN 978-0-8050-6180-2

Frampton, David. MY BEASTIE BOOK OF ABC : RHYMES AND WOODCUTS. ISBN 0-06-028823-X

Ghigna, Charles ANIMAL TRUNK: SILLY POEMS TO READ ALOUD. ISBN 0-81094200-3

This book can be used in a science class to introduce students to animal adaptations for survival in the eco systems in which they live (ways animals have evolved to take advantage of the food source around them).