Animal snackers

Betsy Lewin's Animal Snackers returns with cheerful new watercolors that serve up the rhymes from the 1980 edition as a delectable new entree. The volume covers everything from the anteater ("His snout is like a hose./ He just sucks ants up his nose") to symbiotic tickbirds ("The rhino tolerates these guests/ because they rid him of his pests"). Even picky readers will likely return for seconds. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

PreS-Gr 3-In this reworking of her 1980 poetry collection of the same name (Dodd, Mead; o.p.), Lewin presents the eating habits of gorillas, ostriches, koalas, tickbirds, and sea otters, among others. On each spread, four lines of verse face a watercolor in her signature style of a dining creature. These poems, which are largely rhymed couplets, range from the delightfully clever ("The ostrich eyes with eager glint/a stone-his after-dinner mint") to the pedantically ordinary ("Tickbirds ride the rhino's back,/looking for a tasty snack"). While Lewin does not demonstrate the same playful use of language as Douglas Florian does in his animal verse, her poems have a greater simplicity, making them more accessible to a younger audience. Whereas Lewin's original bread-dough illustrations wryly fit the theme and title of the text, the new art offers clearer and more naturalistic images of the snacking creatures. Collections that have the earlier edition may want to purchase this version as well because of its radically different feel. It will be especially useful as a tie-in for science lessons. An "Animal Facts" section is included.-Rachel G. Payne, Brooklyn Public Library, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Lewin has updated this reissue with new illustrations and slightly reworked text in an airy format with plenty of white space. Four-line poems briefly describe the eating habits of twelve animals. Lewin uses humor in language and large, loose ink and watercolor paintings to give preschoolers a first, very basic natural history lesson. +Animal Facts+ provide child-friendly snippets of information. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

In this thoroughly revised version of her 1980 collection, Lewin not only adds two poems, drops one, and revisits several, she replaces the original's bread-dough art with fresh, less-formal, loosely brushed watercolors that capture the verses' humor even better. Each four-lined entry introduces one of 12 animals at, so to speak, table, e.g., for the Anteater, "eating ants is tricky, / but his tongue is long and sticky. / His snout is like a hose. / He just sucks ants up his nose." It's a light brush with natural history that will leave young readers and listeners rolling in the aisles. Further "Animal Facts" appended. (Picture book/poetry. 5-8) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Betsy Lewin's Animal Snackers returns with cheerful new watercolors that serve up the rhymes from the 1980 edition as a delectable new entree. The volume covers everything from the anteater ("His snout is like a hose./ He just sucks ants up his nose") to symbiotic tickbirds ("The rhino tolerates these guests/ because they rid him of his pests"). Even picky readers will likely return for seconds. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

PreS-Gr 3-In this reworking of her 1980 poetry collection of the same name (Dodd, Mead; o.p.), Lewin presents the eating habits of gorillas, ostriches, koalas, tickbirds, and sea otters, among others. On each spread, four lines of verse face a watercolor in her signature style of a dining creature. These poems, which are largely rhymed couplets, range from the delightfully clever ("The ostrich eyes with eager glint/a stone-his after-dinner mint") to the pedantically ordinary ("Tickbirds ride the rhino's back,/looking for a tasty snack"). While Lewin does not demonstrate the same playful use of language as Douglas Florian does in his animal verse, her poems have a greater simplicity, making them more accessible to a younger audience. Whereas Lewin's original bread-dough illustrations wryly fit the theme and title of the text, the new art offers clearer and more naturalistic images of the snacking creatures. Collections that have the earlier edition may want to purchase this version as well because of its radically different feel. It will be especially useful as a tie-in for science lessons. An "Animal Facts" section is included.-Rachel G. Payne, Brooklyn Public Library, NY Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.