What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?

What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?

Jenkins, Steve & Page, Robin. What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003. ISBN 9780618997138

Summary:

Who has a nose that can be used to give a bath? Who has ears to hear that are located on their knees? Who has a tail that can give a nasty sting? Who has eyes that can look two ways at once? Who has feet that can walk on water? Who has a mouth that can stretch larger than its head? Who has these captivating answers? All of these fascinating answers and many more about animals’ noses, ears, tails, eyes, feet, and mouths are uncovered in this simple nonfiction concept book.

Analysis:

Steve Jenkins and Robin Page have done a remarkable job of taking the fascinating intricacies about animals and insects and made these facts accessible to children. Jenkins’ consistent writing style of “question and answer” offers a predictable text format. Unlike most nonfiction books, this book does benefit from reading cover to cover, simply because of its format and lack of table of contents or index.

Each initial question is asked on a two-page spread surrounded by the images corresponding to the body part investigated. For example, on the page where Jenkins’ addresses “What do you to with a nose like this?” only the images of the animals’ noses are provided. The two-page spread that follows then shows the whole animal and provides more information regarding the specific body part. Again, Jenkins’ uses the same consistent sentence structure. The consistency of the wording and sentence structure lends to its appeal with younger readers. Information is being conveyed but does not overwhelm the reader or the page.

Robin Page utilizes a more untraditional method of illustration for a nonfiction book. Typically, nonfiction books are full of real images, photographs, or detailed renderings. In the case of What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?, Page uses a collaging technique with a variety of paper media to create her images. Different shades of color and textures of paper have been cutout or torn and then layered upon one another to create detailed images of the animals’ and their unique body parts. With a combination of words and images this nonfiction concept book has beautiful style. It’s surely a book to be enjoyed by all!

Awards and Review Excerpts:

- 2004 Caldecott Honor Award

From The Bulletin: “Ingenious.”

From School Library Journal, starred review: “Jenkins, this time in collaboration with his wife, has created yet another eye-opening book.”

From Booklist: “This is a striking, thoughtfully created book with intriguing facts made more memorable through dynamic art.”

From Publishers Weekly: “Steve Jenkins contributes another artistically wrought, imaginatively conceived look at the natural world.”

From Kirkus Reviews, starred: “…this array of wide eyes and open mouths will definitely have viewers responding with wide eyes and open mouths of their own.”

Connections:

Collect and share other books authored by Steve Jenkins, such as:

- Actual Size ISBN 9780547512914

- Biggest, Strongest, Fastest ISBN 9780395861363

- What Do You Do When Something Wants to Eat You? ISBN 9780618152438

- I See a Kookaburra!: Discovering Animals Habitats Around the World ISBN

  9780618507641

- Move! ISBN 9780618646371

Use Jenkins’ What Do You Do With A Tail Like This? to help promote and create research questions. Perhaps, have each student research more about an animal introduced in Jenkins’ book and create a similar book specific to his/her animal.

Utilize Steve Jenkins’ books to help introduce a variety of biology and animal science topics.

Create a “Facts About the Facts” wall and help students identify sources for Jenkins’ book.

Invite students to select a topic of interest and create a book of their own inspired by Jenkins’ writing style. You can visit Steve Jenkins’ website (shared below) to learn more about his process.

Learn more about Robin Page’s image creations and writing. Collect and share other books she has helped create or created on her own, such as:

- Move! ISBN 9780618646371

- I See a Kookaburra!: Discovering Animals Habitats Around the World ISBN

  9780618507641

- How Many Ways Can You Catch a Fly? ISBN 9780618966349

- A Chicken Followed Me Home!: Questions and Answers About Familiar Fowl ISBN

  9781481410281

Learn more about Steve Jenkins at http://www.stevejenkinsbooks.com and his wife, Robin Page. Together, they have created sixteen (16) children’s books together. 

*Images borrowed from www.barnesandnoble.com

What would you do with a book like this?

~ Mandy :)