Sunday, February 8, 2009

REVIEW: Simms Taback's Great Big Book of Spacey Snakey Buggy Riddles


Hall, K., & Eisenberg, L. (2008). Simms Taback’s Great Big Book of Spacey Snakey Buggy
Riddles.
New York: Viking.

9780670011216

A combination of previously published riddles, Simms Taback’s Great Big Book of Spacey Snakey Buggy Riddles features bright and fun illustrations that may hint at the riddle’s answer, but never give it away (I know, I wound up staring at the pictures, hoping the answer would be there). Each riddle features a play with language involving an animal, insect or objects and creatures from space. And I couldn’t answer a single one of them.

Not a one.

Apparently I is stupid.

While some of the riddles will cause most students to chuckle, I would not recommend sharing the whole book as a read aloud in one sitting. Or else a student (or even a usually linguistically INGENIOUS individual, such as myself) will be left feeling inadequate and dumb. Really dumb.

Rather, these riddles (which knowing my luck with the world) will probably be easy for kids to play with in a pressure free environment. That or the young readers could use these riddles to reduce adults to tears. Whichever.


Activities to do with the book:

The riddles could be used as a fun exercise to show students the fun they can have with language. A teacher could present a riddle and have the students create their own illustrations for it.


Favorite Quotes

“What will you get if you put a snake in your bathtub?”

(Ring around the tub!)

“What kind of songs do planets like to sing?”

(Nep-Tunes!)

“What did the mosquito say when she got a stomachache?”

(It must have been someone I ate!)

“What poem can you find in outer space?”

(A uni-verse!)


So, did anyone out there have better luck than me at figuring out some of the answers?

2 comments:

  1. Even after reading the answer I don't get the snake one!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yeah, that's one where I think the picture actually helps. The snake's mouth is by its tail, so its a ring at the bottom of the tub.

    ReplyDelete

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