Perfect Picture Book Friday

What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?

Written and illustrated by Steve Jenkins and his wife Robin Page

Houghton Mifflin Books for Children

Suitable For:                                                         

Ages 5 and up

Theme/Topic: 

Science

Opening:

Animals use their noses, ears, eyes,tails, eyes, mouths, and feet in very different ways. See if you can guess which animal each part belongs to and how it is used. At the back of this book you can find out more about these animals.

Synopsis: 

A nose for digging? Ears for seeing? Eyes that squirt blood? Explore the many amazing things animals can do with their ears, eyes, mouths, noses, feet, and tails in this beautifully illustrated interactive guessing book by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page.

Why I loved it:

What's not to love? It's incredibly done, educational, gripping, and loads of fun! It teaches about so many interesting body parts: A platypus uses its nose "to dig in the mud." But "[i]f you're an elephant, you use your nose to give yourself a bath" [image of trunk squirting water back over elephant's head]. For ears, you learn that a jackrabbit uses its ears to keep cool, and crickets have ears on their knees. A chimpanzee can eat with its feet, and a gecko's feet are sticky so it can walk on the ceiling. Isn't that fun?

Links To Resources: 

At the end of the book, a section includes a one-paragraph "bio" with additional details about each animal, with the rest of the story on the unique appendage. 

Accompanying activities

Lesson plans

Go visit Susanna Leonard Hill and check out the other super fantastic picture books featured.


*shakes fist at blogger* It looks like the same font and it looks all neat until I publish it. *sigh*