Author: Steven Jenkins
Illustrator: Robin Page
Awards: Caldecott Honor Book of 2003
Medium: Cut-paper collage
Genre: Non-fiction
It includes factual information about five animals for each feature such as mouth, nose, eyes, ears, feet, and tail (30 animals in all). In the back of the book, there is additional information for each animal.
Theme: Animals
Summary: In the book, there are five physical features: mouth, nose, eyes, ears, feet and tail. For each physical feature, there are five different types of animals. There is brief information of how each animal uses their physical feature (for example, Platypus uses their nose to dig mud in order to lay their eggs in).
Illustrations/Design: Based on Robin Page’s illustrations, she truly had a knack to drawn young and even older readers in to be involved with learning about animals. All illustrations are definitely attractive and reader-friendly. For example, on the first page—it talks of nose, we do not see all animals as a full figured—only a part of their nose…meaning to intrigue readers to make a guess of what animal would it be and then next page, that animal becomes a full figure along with a explanation of how they use their nose. Each illustration is obviously strategically placed to keep young and older readers interested and intrigued with what they are learning. It is amazing that she used cut-paper collages for this book---I would never have guessed that! I had to look close enough to determine that she did use cut-paper collages.
Organization: The sequence of Jenkins’ book went like this: nose, ears, tail, eyes, feet, and finally mouth. I personally did not agree with his sequence because I would have started with mouth, nose, eyes, ears, tail and then feet. That would be more of a logical development and lead children to imagine of what would be next easily. However, that is just my opinion—Jenkins’ ideas are presented in an understandable and appropriate as there are no confusing places anywhere in his book. Facts about each animal on each page are brief and simple but fascinating enough for all readers to build their thirsty of knowledge for each animal. They will be able to look in the back of the book for more information. Also, each fact and illustration is right next to each other –easy for all readers to stay focused.
Style: What fascinates me about Jenkins’ work is that he not only included facts about animals—he also included terminology to show us that not all duck-likes are called ducks (blue-footed-booby, pelican, and platypus). All terms are appropriate for younger readers because he included pictures and vivid description of what they do in order to help the readers to learn the term easier. Jenkins also uses second person to stimulates a reader’s curiosity such as “What do YOU do with a nose like this? His questions encourage readers to think critically for what they use their physical features for and imagine themselves as an animal.
Reflection: I enjoyed this book thoroughly because I actually learned something new about how some animals used their physical features! Especially with in-depth information about each animal will be very educational and enjoyable for all readers. I can see how Jenkins and Page have put a lot of thoughts and work in the story. I can see how they wanted to make sure that the book they created will make the best use for everyone to read, to refresh, to recall, and to show the others. I would highly recommend for all teachers to have this book into their classrooms no matter how old their students may be. Matter of fact, I’m actually going to buy this book because it is THAT good!
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