Chow Down, Biggety!

August 1, 2015
Grades K-2 Combining simple vocabulary and visual hints, this story invites beginning readers to predict the creatures Biggety Bat encounters during his flight through a mangrove forest in search of the perfect dinner. Set in a cartoonish, pastel-rendered mangrove swamp, Biggety's adventure brings him across a variety of noisy nibblers enjoying their dinners. Grubs are great for a cuckoo bird, but what will Biggety eat? An alligator lurks in nearly every spread, but readers need not fear: the gator prefers fish to Biggety, who finally finds a swarm of mosquitoes to fill his tummy. The repeated refrain and onomatopoeic words make reading a breeze, and the friendly illustrations offer plenty of visual clues. A single page at the end identifies each of the mangrove-swamp dwellers and gives some extra details about the unique ecosystem.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)