Sugar and Snails

A novel twist to a classic rhyme.

Who says that little girls are made of “sugar and spice and everything nice?” Or that boys are made of “frogs and snails and puppy dog tails?” What if girls were made of “boats and snails and dinosaur tails?” And little boys of “flowers and swings and bumblebee wings?” When the traditional rhyme just doesn’t seem to fit the boy and girl visiting their grandpa, he comes up with a list of unusual alternatives. Soon the children are coming up with their own versions that challenge the old stereotypes with a whimsical list of ingredients. To add to the new quirky version are lively illustrations that beautifully capture the children’s imaginative flights of fancy. Young readers will delight in the small details of Sonja Wimmer’s vibrant art, and be inspired to think of their own silly examples of what ingredients they might be made of themselves.

Sarah Tsiang is an award-winning poet as well as a children's book author. Her books with Annick Press include A Flock of Shoes, Dogs Don't Eat Jam and Other Things Big Kids Know, Warriors and Wailers: 100 Anicent Chinese Jobs You Might Have Relished or Reviled, and The Stone Hatchlings. She lives in Kingston, Ontario.

Sonja Wimmer is an award-winning German illustrator and storyteller from Munich. She is also the illustrator of I Love My Purse.