Wednesday, May 13, 2009

REVIEW: If Animals Kissed Good Night


So, after looking over Crocodaddy two days ago and examining Kim Norman's first book Jack of All Tails yesterday, I thought I'd examine some of the other books David Walker illustrated. I happened to get ahold of four of his books. If Animals Kissed Goodnight is below and three other of his picturebooks are below that.


Paul, A.W. (2008). If Animals Kissed Goodnight. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.


If Animals Kissed Goodnight shares the way a number of animals kiss goodnight. While some strict adults may frown upon all the anthropomorphized animals, there is still a lot of fun vocabulary words that toddlers and other youngins can learn from this text. Most of the text is structured into rhyming couplets, which works well.


As the story progresses, the sun sets, brining nighttime to the animals in the illustrations and preparing the reader for bed. Following Walker's other books, these illustrations are light, pleasant and with a sense of humor that matches the text well.



Activities to do with the book:


This is a wonderful bedtime read, probably best left for parents or siblings to read to young kids. I suppose the book would also work for nap time, but I'd still recommend sharing it among family. A teacher reading about all this kissing could be a little...awkward.

If a teacher or parent is bent on turning this story into a lesson, they could focus on the rhyming couplets and have young students try to make their own rhymes and illustrations of animals or family members.



Favorite Quotes:

"If animals kissed like we kiss goodnight,..."


"Walrus calf and her papa would make whiskery swishes,

rubbing each other in scritch-scratchy kisses."


"If animals kissed like we kiss good night,

the sky would turn black, the moon would shine bright,"



For more information on David Walker's work as an illustrator or for information on his latest book, Crocodaddy, check out the other blogs on the tour below:

A Christian Worldview of Fiction, A Mom Speaks, A Pathcwork of Books, All About Children’s Books, Becky’s Book Reviews, Booking Mama,Cafe of Dreams, Dolce Bellezza, Fireside Musings, KidzBookBuzz.com, Looking Glass Reviews, Maw Books Blog, Never Jam Today, Olive Tree, Our Big Earth, Reading is My Superpower, SMS Book Reviews, The 160 Acrewoods, Through a Child’s Eyes

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