Animal Sense - Hardcover

Ackerman, Diane

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0375823840 ISBN 13: 9780375823848

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2003

Synopsis

A stapler with its tiny fangs
Cannot outwit orangutangs.
Rocks are very good at sitting,
but never walk or take up knitting.
Living things all feel and sense
their way through every happenstance. . . .
In this delightfully witty collection of poems, bestselling author Diane Ackerman shows how the senses shape and enrich
the experiences of all living beings. With enchanting illustrations by Peter Sís, Animal Sense is sure to capture the imagination of readers young and old.

About this title

About the Author

Diane Ackerman is the bestselling author of over 20 books of poetry and nonfiction, including A Natural History of the Senses, Cultivating Delight, and Deep Play, which was also illustrated by Peter Sís.
Peter Sís has written and illustrated numerous books for children, including Tibet: Through the Red Box and Starry Messenger, both of which received a Caldecott Honor.

Reviews

Grade 3-6-Ackerman, a poet and naturalist who writes most often for adults, here turns her skilled hand (and ear, and eye, and voice) to children's poetry. There are 15 poems, 3 for each of the 5 senses, each one about a different animal. They are concise and compact, with a quietly humorous tone that sometimes veers into the kind of silliness that many kids love. For instance, she writes about the cow, "-every meal is grass with a side order of grass,/plus huge dollops of grass smothered in grass,/followed by grass chops and, for dessert, more grass." There are many fresh, friendly images that young readers will enjoy: "Consider the owl: a pair of binoculars with wings-." Various facts about the animals are seamlessly interwoven, and may inspire a little research on the nonfiction shelves. The pictures are subtle, a lovely match for the poems. Some are small, some larger, but all are precisely rendered, with evident feelings for the creatures shown. This is a small book with an elegant and perfectly scaled design. It is more similar to a jewel than to an ice-cream sundae-in other words, it may not have the wide appeal of the more colorful or broadly humorous offerings, but readers who want to go beyond the obvious will savor it.
Lauralyn Persson, Wilmette Public Library, IL
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

*Starred Review* Gr. 3-7. "Living things all feel and sense / their way through / every happenstance." Ackerman, who's best known for her numerous works of poetry and nonfiction for adults, explores the unique ways that animals navigate the world, in these poems for young people. Grouped into sections representing each of the five senses, the poems are clever, funny, challenging, and playful, with occasionally made-up words reminiscent of Lewis Carroll. Even if young readers miss the precise meaning and concepts, they will be captivated by Ackerman's rolling, rhyming sounds that mimic the motion of her subjects--the rise and fall of a humpback whale at sea, "high as angel's eyes" and then low "beneath the galloping brine." Her startling, original imagery will encourage them to wonder how and why animals' bodies function as they do: an owl is really "a pair of binoculars with wings." The best lines are atmospheric and beautiful: of bats' in flight, we hear "only moon-blessed quiet and the eeriest flutter." Teachers will want to read this aloud and then pass it around to show Sis' lovely pointillist sketches that are whimsical without distracting from the words. Like Ackerman's adult work, these poems will inspire readers to find awe and excitement in the natural world. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

TOUCH

I

An alligator, for example,
has a skin chock-full of dimples
and puckers wrinkled like a blouse.
Do not invite one to your house.
He may grow cold and use his wiles
to con you with his fixed smiles.

Never lend him your best sweater,
though he may sing an operetta
about being cold-blooded, or perform
a hula dance just to keep warm.


He knows a blanket of tiny marsh flowers
will keep him toasty, or he can bask for hours
on the riverbank with one leg dangling
his tail in shade and his snout angling
up until he finds the perfect spot –
not too cold and not too hot.
I suppose he could carry the sun in a flask,
and he would if he could, but it's easier to bask,



11

Penguin babies,
on the other hand (or wing),
will cozy up to almost anything
summery and snug
preferring Mom's tummy,
but a human hand or rug
also feels yummy.

Frantic for a big, smothery
featherbed cuddle,
they sometimes wobble around
in a chilly muddle,
gawking everywhere
for their next of kin. '
'Hug me!'' they squawk.
I need wings to snooze in.''

Then while the antarctic night
blusters and blows
and rainbow-bright auroras glow,
the air plunges to 40 below.
But penguin babies keep warm
they peep songs of summer
and nuzzle in deep,
waltzing through their ice palace
on Mama's feet.


III

The real masters of touch
are not grabby monkeys
(who do love to clutch),
not turtles, who find a shell-scratch
sublime, not cockroaches,
whose belly-fingers can climb,
not snails (who have such
slimy sensitive feet),
not silky-pouched kangaroos,
mice, or jellyfish,
not leapsome gazelles
or lions acting kittenish,
not even animals
like squids that squish.

No, it's prairie dogs,
termites, anteaters. and such-
animals that dip for a living,
in darkness, through dirt,
and are constantly giving
pinches to some,
rubs and twealks to others.
That's why the star-nosed mole
(who always wears a glove on his nose)
feels everything overmuch
and has dirty cheeks
but a dainty sense of touch.

Edition details

• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0375823840
• ISBN 13: 9780375823848
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Sis Peter
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 48