What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page won a Caldecott Honor award in 2004. It’s cover art hints at the beauty and creativity inside this book. I say hints because the book isn’t just gorgeous collage, it also has content.
This large picture book is a first step into the nonfiction world of wildlife. I love the format: it challenges us to think of parts and whole. A two-page spread shows only one part of five creatures and the next two-page spread is the big reveal. We wonder which animals own the noses, for example. A contemplative pause on this page encourages engagement. A page turn answers the question—the noses belong to a platypus, hyena, elephant, alligator, and mole. And, we learn what these creatures do with their noses! Next we’re asked, “What do you do with ears like these?” And we learn about the bat, jackrabbit, hippopotamus, cricket, and whale. By the time we finish the book, we’ve met 30 different creatures. And there’s a bonus! Four pages of backmatter provide a paragraph of additional information about each one.
