What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?

What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?

Author: Steven Jenkins & Robin Page 

Illustrator: Steven Jenkins

Grade Level: 2-5

Genre: Non-Fiction 

Awards: Caldecott Honor 

Summary: This book takes you through the the different noses, ears, tales, eyes, feet, and mouths of animals.  Each animal described has a unique way they use different body parts.  As you go through the book, you begin to learn how different animals use different body parts to smell, communicate, hang, and see.  At the end of the book, there is a list of all the animals that were discussed throughout the book with more information on each.  

Evaluation: I enjoyed the way this book went through the different bodily characteristics of each animal.  I would include this in my classroom because I think this book could be used for a daily warm up activity. 

The readability is between second and fifth grade.  Both the subject matter and the vocabulary in this book can be easily understood by younger readers.  The material is also written in a way that is interactive and interesting.

I could use this book as a writing warm up.  Each day I could have a different page on the board displaying one of the mentioned body parts.  Students have to guess what animal the part belongs to and what they might use that body part for.  Middle school student would love this warm up.  This would provide daily interesting facts as well as fun writing prompts.