As a child I was enamored of the oceans and sea creatures. I was particularly fascinated by seahorses and the role males played in carrying eggs and giving birth. This interest led me to research other animal species in which males played a more traditional role in rearing young. Unfortunately, the only real resource for information when I was growing up was the encyclopedia!
Young readers today are much luckier than I was, you can find books on a myriad of subjects today.
Today's book pairing focuses on the important role a number of dads play in the animal kingdom.
Poetry Book
Just Us Two: Poems About Animal Dads, written by Joyce Sidman and illustrated by Susan Swan, is a collection of 11 poems on fathers in the animal world. In the About the Author section we learn a bit about the driving force behind these poems. It reads:
Joyce Sidman became interested in animal dads while reading to her children about the fascinating ways animals shelter, feed, and teach their young. As she watched her husband and sons at their home in Minnesota, she noticed many similarities between animal families and human ones! More study led her to the conclusion that many fathers in the wild are not the ferocious creatures we think they are. Like human fathers, they are protective, nurturing, and critical to the survival of their offspring.
The poems in the collection highlight the Emperor penguin, giant water bug, ostrich, Australian budgerigar parakeet, California deer mouse, two-toned poison arrow frog, Nile Crocodile, Arctic wolf, peregrine falcon, klipspringer antelope, and South American titi monkey.
Here's one of the poems from the collection.
Mouse HaikuBlind and tissue-skinned,
tiny mice enter the world
in a nest of grass.
Hide-and-seek masters,
they will soon whisk, surefooted,
through the chill spring night.
Until then, Father
warms this fragile thimbleful
of fluttering hearts.
Poem © Joyce Sidman. All rights reserved.The book concludes with back matter that provides additional information on each of the animals described in the poems.
Nonfiction Picture Book
Animal Dads, written by Sneed B. Collard III and illustrated by Steve Jenkins, explores that roles that fathers play in the animal kingdom. The book opens with the sentence "Dads do many things." Yes, they do! They build homes, bathe young, give birth, carry eggs, hunt, babysit, and so so much more.
Written in two levels of text, readers will find short simple sentences narrated by the offspring on one level, and a paragraph of informational text on another level. Together these components provide readers with a wealth of information. Jenkins' cut-paper collage illustrations offer beautiful portraits of the animal described.
Here's an excerpt.
They build us homes to live in.
A stickleback dad builds a nest out of pieces of plants. The female stickleback lays her eggs in this nest. The male fertilizes them. Afterward, the male drives the female away—but his job isn't over yet. Dad continues to guard the nest from enemies, and he protects the babies after they hatch.
Text © Sneed Collard III. All rights reserved.
Included here are introductions to the seahorse, prairie vole, Emperor penguin, poison arrow frog, lion, tamarin, cichlid, and more.
Perfect Together
The animals presented in both of these books are diverse and offer answers to the question "What do animal dads do?" After reading the Sidman's poems and the entries in Collard's book, readers can answer, "Many of the same things human dads do!" Some of the animal dads in Sidman's poems are also highlighted in ANIMAL DADS, so consider pairing individual poems with the related text by Collard.
For additional resources, consider these sites.
In my house, we're all about "daddy" books lately! As the baby grows in my belly, the husband wants to be more and more involved, and has been doing a lot of reading to our son the past few weeks. Cute huh? Well this week's Non-Fiction Monday selection may not be the best for reading to a still-growing baby-in-the-womb, but it is a pretty cool book for dads and their kids to share together.
Hey, Daddy! Animal Fathers and Their Babies is written by Mary Batten and illustrated by Higgins Bond. Different animal species and the father's roles are chronicled on each page, accompanied by beautiful illustrations. The text is a bit long at times, but the information is extensive and written in a flowing manner, one that will hold children's interests. The reader gets to learn about the known responsible animal fathers, such as penguins and seahorses, but also some not-so-well-known dads, like baboons and beavers.
As the author states on the last page, "It takes someone very special to be a good daddy" and that is very apparent in the text of this book. There are all types of cool facts that kids will get a kick out of (and the dads too). Have your hubby read this to your kids, it will be a great bonding experience!
Poop: A History of the Unmentionable
by Nicola Davies; illustrated by Neal Layton
Candlewick Press
Oh yeah, a POOP book. Kids won't like that, will they? I mean, it's only a wee-sized book about POOP, not anything designed to appeal to kids, whom we all know prefer to read about nice, clean subjects, like manners and respecting grown-ups and how not to insist in a whiny voice that you must read them a book about POOP right now, pleeeeez.
Ach. I'm disowning both of them.
Did you know that poop gets its nauseating hue from all the colors of our food blending in our intestines? See? An art lesson. And blue whales have pink poop. And you can tell all about animals from their poop. And cute bunny wabbits EAT THEIR OWN POOP. Right out of their butts.
Oh yeah, kids will just hate this. And those scribbly, colorful drawings just like a kid would make? They'll hate that too.
In fact, between this and the parasite book, I predict Davies and Layton will have no sales whatsoever and will have to take up a useful, productive hobby, like re-teaching my kids manners, now that they ask for POOP at the dinner table. Gah.
Rating: *\*\*\
What's Eating You? Parasites -- The Inside Story
by Nicola Davies; illustrated by Neal Layton
Candlewick Press
Ew! Ew! Ew! Need I say more? Ew!
I'm not showing this one to my kids. Nightmare time! At least for Mom.
In 60 stomach-churning pages, we learn all about the critters who make their home in fur, hair, tummies and, oh, gawd, you don't want to know. Want to know the grossest? Me neither.
There are lots of, uh, fun facts on parasites of every size and disposition, from how they find their hosts to where they set up camp. I got a serious case of the ickies, and you will too, but there's some useful info on how to avoid them (though no mention of taking your malaria shots before you go overseas ... hello!).
It's more of a novelty book, so it's compact and easily lost. Hooray. There's not much else to say. Just shudder, shut it, and tuck it under the rug for the fleas to find.
Rating: *\*\*\
I love this book. It has a teacher guide to go with it. I know, because I wrote it! It's a great father's day gift, too.