Module 11: What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?

Book Summary:This book shows how a variety of animals use their eyes, ears, noses, tails, and feet and provides information on each type of animal.


APA Reference of Book:Jenkins, S., & Page, R. (2003). What do you do with a tail like this?. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Impressions:This book is a very interesting way to present educational information to children so that is is fun. I enjoyed looking at all the body parts and guessing who they belonged to. While some were easy, I even learned a few things from the book. I did not recognize the mole's nose and I had no idea that a cricket hears with its knees. The illustrations are creative yet still realistic. I also liked that there is further information on each animal at the back of the book. I think this would be especially useful to teachers.
 
Professional Review:Not only does Jenkins again display a genius for creating paper-collage wildlife portraits with astonishingly realistic skin, fur and feathers, but here on alternate spreads he zooms in for equally lifelike close-ups of ears, eyes, noses, mouths, feet and tails.  Visual surprises abound.  Capped by a systematic appendix furnishing more, and often arresting details–this array of wide eyes and open mouths will definitely have viewers responding with wide eyes and open mouths of their own.

(2003).  What do you do with a tail like this?  [Review of the book What do you do with a tail like this? by S. Jenkins].  Kirkus Reviews 71(2), 142.  Retrieved from www.kirkusreviews.com

Library Uses: I saw a sample activity where you read the book and then have children create an animal that is a combination of many different body parts. Such as something with rabbit ears, a monkey tail, mole nose, and then they have to explain where their imaginary animals lives and how each of these parts help it to get by.