Paws, Claws, Hands, and Feet

May 1, 2009
PreS-KThis rhymed fantasy follows two siblings on a dream voyage to various biomes, where they note spiders spinning, penguins splashing, a kangaroo hopping, and a lion pawing. The author's active words hit the mark for vocabulary enhancement, e.g., "Leaping, lunging, /lily pad plunging]." However, the use of the book's title as the refrain may be confusing to young audiences since it's never made clear whether to look for a paw, claw, hand, or foot on a particular page, and some creatures have none of these appendages. Unfortunately, the artist missed a couple of opportunities for higher energy by not depicting the text. Instead of a monkey "curling, clinging, /tree branch swinging]," the animal is shown sitting on a tree branch, eating muffins from a box. Neither an informative concept book nor an engaging fantasy, this is one that can be skipped."Gay Lynn Van Vleck, Henrico County Library, Glen Allen, VA"

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