Beth Anderson, Children's Writer

Happy Perfect Picture Book Friday! Prepare to be amazed! In honor of Earth Day and the myriad of extraordinary creatures on our planet, I’m sharing a book that totally fascinated me. Let’s double-down efforts to heal the environment, preserve these treasures, and stall the devastating effects of climate change.

Congratulations to Kristin Sawyer – you’ve won a copy of THE PIG WAR: HOW A PORCINE TRAGEDY TAUGHT ENGLAND AND AMERICA TO SHARE from Emma Blandon Smith, author of last week’s post! 

Flying Frogs and Walking Fish
by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, nonfiction

Suitable for ages: 4-8

Themes/topics: animals, locomotion, actions

Opening:
Animals walk, leap, climb, and swim. Some roll or turn flips. Others fly or glide, and a few are even jet-propelled. These creatures are found in many shapes and sizes. They come equipped with legs, fins, wings, or tentacles, and they often get from place to place in surprising ways. Have you ever seen…

Brief synopsis (from jacket)
Have you ever seen a dog climb a tree? Or an octopus that walks? How about a spider turning somersaults? You’ll meet them all in this book, along with creatures that use flaps of skin, webbed toes, hundreds of legs, or even jets of water to help them move.

Activities and Resources:
To learn about the making of this book, click HERE. 

Categories: The back matter contains a list of animals categorized by their locomotion. Sort the animals to categorize them in new ways. Add new animals to each form of locomotion.

Which animal was most surprising to you? Why?

Verbs: Act out each verb for others to guess.

Why I like this book:
It’s purely interesting, like all of Steve Jenkins’ books! Superb illustrations. There’s always more to learn. I had no idea there were so many creatures with unexpected kinds of locomotion! (This seems perfect for a special version of the song “Do the Locomotion.”) Books like this feed a child’s sense of wonder. They inspire a reader to think beyond the usual and appreciate the extraordinary world we inhabit.  

Visit author Susanna Hill’s Perfect Picture Books for a plethora of picture books listed by title and topic/theme, each with teacher/parent activities and resources.