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by Bibi Dumon Tak (Author), Annemarie Van Haeringen (Illustrator), Nancy Forest-Flier (Translator)
Full of humor and fun for animal-lovers young and old!
"Hello, I'm the earthworm, and today I'm giving my talk about the anaconda." Who needs another book by humans? All they do is make us animals super boring. They only look at things through their own eyes. Every, single, time. Human after human. Kid after kid. Class after class. YAWN! This is a book of oral presentations given by us animals, for us animals, and about us animals. The cleaner fish will talk about his friend the shark and his sharp teeth. The zebra will get to tell you about all the black-and-white animals in the world. The mole knows everything there is to know about the daddy long-legs. The southern cassowa--yes, fox? What is it? Yes, you'll get to talk about geese. Huh? Yes, you'll get to talk about how delicious they are. Anyway, we're giving you twenty presentations from another twenty of us, but there's a lot more crammed in. And you know what, we did talk, and there's at least one human who's OK by us -- Annemarie van Haeringen. She drew some portraits of us for this book and we gotta say, the likenesses are pretty good. Check it all out! P R A I S E 4 STARRED REVIEWS! ★ "Humorous, charming, childlike illustrations of the animals match the off-kilter tone of the text. Rounding out this stellar package, the ending integrates the index... seamlessly and amusingly introducing young readers to how an index functions. A brilliant use of anthropomorphic animals, serving up facts and entertainment." --Kirkus (starred) ★ "The dread (or excitement) of a class presentation isn't exclusive to young humans, as evidenced in this humorous all-dialogue collection... Irreverent text nails the mood of a classroom discussion in free fall, while mixed-media sketches offer stylish visual contrast to the comedic chaos." --Publishers Weekly (starred) ★ "Riveting...receptive readers will effortlessly absorb practical advice about researching, organizing, and delivering effective oral presentations of their own." --Booklist (starred) ★ "A send-up of the presentation formats, with classroom banter immediately recognizable to the human reader, that effectively and invitingly reveals scientific information about both the animal speakers and their subjects... Between the eye-catching art and the chatty, accessible format, this makes a breezy invite for just recently-solo readers to engage with a scientific text without being overwhelmed by jargon and overwrought details. Both teachers and parents should have this on hand to freshen up the stale class project on the animal kingdom." --Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (starred)Author Biography
Bibi Dumon Tak writes nonfiction, or as she calls it: the truth in stories. Most of those stories are about animals. And all those stories are true. They are about cows that have escaped from slaughter; about animals that help people in times of war; about birds, arctic animals, uncuddly animals, cloven-hoofed animals, city animals. She has no preferences. As long as it can crawl, fly, swim, or run; as long as it has fur, scales, spines, or feathers. As long as they aren't people. Dumon Tak has won the Gouden Griffel, the highest honor for children's books in the Netherlands, as well as the Theo Thijssen Prize, the highest honor for authors. Two books of hers, Soldier Bear and Mikis and the Donkey, have won the Mildred L. Batchelder Award.
Author residence: Zuiderwoude, Netherlands Annemarie van Haeringen is a leading Dutch illustrator and author. She has illustrated numerous children's books and worked on films and children's magazines. She has won the Gouden Penseel--the highest honor for children's illustration in the Netherlands--three times, and her books have been published in more than twenty-five languages. Illustrator residence: Amsterdam, NetherlandsNancy Forest-Flier is an American-born translator and editor living and working in the Netherlands. She has translated several adult and children's novels from Dutch to English as well as books of historical nonfiction. She has also translated for numerous Dutch museums and institutes including the Anne Frank House. She has six children and ten grandchildren.
Translator residence: Netherlands
