MEET THE MEERKAT, by Darrin Lunde, illustrated by Patricia J. Wynne, Charlesbridge, 2007, available now.
I had a Summer Reading Program assistant one year at my library who loved Meerkats. (Before I met her, I had no idea what a Meerkat was.) During that same summer my granddaughter and I attended a stage production of THE LION KING, which featured -- a cute, though large, meerkat. (Naturally, my summer thank-you gift to her was a stuffed meerkat from the show.)
If you were intrigued by Simba's friend, Timon the Meerkat, and you are a first or second grader, you will love finding out more about this African animal by reading this book.
For example, when asked by the narrator, "what do you look like?" the meerkat pictured says, "I am long and thin. I have a pointy face. I am the size of a squirrel." Who knew? The meerkat on stage with the Lion King cast is the size of a large boy or small man.
The text drew me in with this question and answer format -- telling me exactly what I wanted to know about this animal. The large pictures are inviting. The large typeface encourages young readers. And the information is just enough for a beginning reader's report on this animal.
The author's afterward is not aimed at adults. It is still aimed at the young reader, giving them a little bit more information.
Both the author and the illustrator, a husband and wife team, work for the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
For more Nonfiction Monday blog posts, click on the link in the previous message.
-wendieO
3 comments:
I love Q&A formats in books. Not that I want every book to be that way, but I think it's so great, especially for readers with very short attention spans or who don't like or struggle with reading. The Q&A makes mini-chapters.
By the way, I've tagged you for a meme, if you'd like to participate: http://laurasalas.livejournal.com/66090.html
If not, I understand (I know your blogging time is very limited!).
Wendie, I don't know if someone else had already done this but if so, I couldn't find it. Anyway, I added a feed over on Livejournal so people could add you as a friend and read you there. I kept missing your posts and now I won't!
The link is: http://syndicated.livejournal.com/wendieold_feed/profile
Some blogger folks like to add it as a link on their sidebar so people know there is a LJ feed. :-)
Susan Taylor Brown
Hi Wendie! I fixed my spelling goofs. Sorry about that! That's what I get for posting early in the morning. :-)
As for your feed thing, I haven't used blogger for a while so I don't remember but remember you can post that sort of question to the Kidlitosphere group!
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