Bees, Snails, & Peacock Tails: Patterns & Shapes . . . Naturally - Hardcover

Franco, Betsy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1416903860 ISBN 13: 9781416903864

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2008

Synopsis

Come explore the hidden shapes and patterns in nature. The peacock's flashy tail is a masterpiece of color and shape. A buzzing beehive is built of tiny hexagons. Even a snake's skin is patterned with diamonds.
Poet Betsy Franco and Caldecott Honor winner Steve Jenkins bring geometry to life in this lively, lyrical look at the shapes and patterns that can be found in the most unexpected places.

About this title

About the Author

Betsy Franco is the author of numerous books for children, including Counting Our Way to the 100th Day! and Mathematickles!, both illustrated by Steven Salerno; and Birdsongs, illustrated by Steve Jenkins. She and her husband live in Palo Alto, California. They have three sons -- two actors and a sculptor. Visit Betsy's website at www.betsyfranco.com.

Steven Jenkins’s many celebrated children’s books, include Can An Aardvark Bark? by Melissa Stewart, Hello Baby! by Mem Fox, Mama Built a Little Nest and Mama Dug a Little Den by Jennifer Ward, and the 2003 Caldecott Honor recipient, What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? He lives in Boulder, Colorado. Visit him at SteveJenkinsBooks.com.

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 3—This poetry picture book about patterns in nature has some spreads on which rhymes sing and artwork thrills—and others that disappoint. The peacock page delights readers with a Jenkins collage at his feathery best and these clever lines: "If you should meet a peacock pair,/the male's the one with all the flair./The female, who is rather plain,/is dazzled by his patterned train." In the spread about symmetry in moths' wing patterns, the insects' furry bodies seem to pop from the paper, but the text's attempt to rhyme "eyes" with "side" and "spring" with "wings" doesn't measure up. A clever spiral poem on the topshell snail is accompanied by a surprisingly flat and listless illustration. Awkward scanning in the rhymes throughout will make the book especially hard to read aloud without practice. Jarring in a book that is scientific in tone despite its poetic format is the statement that sea stars "grow back an arm/if they get into scrapes,/for they take such great pride/in their bright, starry shapes." One or two simple facts about the habits of each animal are included in the end matter. For an excellent poetic book about nature by this duo, try Birdsongs (S & S, 2007).—Ellen Heath, Easton Area Public Library, Easton, PA
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About this edition

• Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1416903860
• ISBN 13: 9781416903864
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 40
• Illustrator: Jenkins Steve