Module 4
Nonfiction and Biography
Nonfiction Book by Steve Jenkins

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Jenkins, Steve and Page, Robin 2003. WHAT DO YOU DO WITH A TAIL LIKE THIS?. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Books. ISBN 0618256288

2.  PLOT SUMMARY
In this nonfiction book it teaches you facts about different parts of animals in a very kid friendly way.  In the beginning it explains how animals use their noses, ears, tails, eyes, mouths, and feet in different ways.  The first body part the book teaches you about is the nose. It shows you each animal’s nose to see if you can guess what animal it belongs to.   When you turn the page it shows you each animal and tells you how each animal uses his or her nose.  The book continues to tell you about the ears, tails, eyes, feet, and mouth in the same way.
 
3.  CRITICAL ANALYSIS
In this book the illustrator uses cut-paper art.  I had to do a little research on this because I had never heard of such a thing.  He uses a double page spread to show each part of the animal.  For example, “What do you do with a mouth like this?” It has cut paper art of different animal mouths.  Some it would be obvious to a child what mouth it is, but others keep your mind guessing and wondering what it is and what it does.  When you turn the page there is a picture of the whole animal explaining how the animal uses its mouth.

The way the author explains what each animal does is also very kid friendly.  It tells you exactly what you need to know.  It doesn’t go into too much detail throughout the story.  For example, when it teaches you about different animal eyes it tells you “If you are a chameleon, you look two ways at once.” This is very simple yet still teaches the reader something.  In the back of the book it goes over every animal that he featured in his book in more detail.  I really like this part because the reader could choose to read more about different animals they were very intrigued by.  The author and illustrator do a great job at really appealing to the reader.  This book is great for younger children, but could also be used with older kids.      

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
Good Reads: “Very informative, engaging and contains some of the best cut-paper collage I've ever seen!”
Publisher’s Weekly: “Steve Jenkins contributes another artistically wrought, imaginatively conceived look at the natural world.”

5. CONNECTIONS
*This would be a good book to start exploring different animals with young kids.  Also, exploring what the different parts do and what they do different things.
*You could also read this book and then have the student write about their nose, ears, eyes, and mouth.  It would be a good writing activity.  You could talk about how they use their 5 sences to add detail to their writing.