An Ambush of Tigers: A wild gathering of collective nouns

An Ambush of Tigers  

A wild gathering of collective nouns
by Betsy R. Rosenthal
illustrated by Jago
Millbrook Press/Minneapolis, 2015


Do you ever wonder 
what animals do
when they gather in groups
of more than two?

Thus begins this witty and clever book about collective nouns that maintains a lilting rhythm throughout while encouraging the kids to wonder whether each collective noun might be the most appropriate for that animal.

The illustrations just took my breath away! Illustrator Jago has not only infused the book with colors and warmth, but a lot of cheeky humor and with plenty to discover. Sharks with scarves, beanies and earmuffs ("shiver of sharks"), pheasants arranged in an ornate vase ("bouquet of pheasants"), fedora-wearing bears with magnifying glasses tracking the crows fleeing to the moon ("murder of crows", "sleuth of bears")...

The favorite one for the seven year old is:

Does a prickle of porcupines
feel any pain?
Can a flush of mallards
get sucked down the drain?

The illustration shows three porcupines on hospital beds sporting heavy bandages, a sink between two of them whose pipes go down back and forth and get larger and fatter and more convoluted with mallards getting flushed into an underground tunnel at the other end.

Even the cover image has a little cub peeking through binoculars getting set for an ambush of his own.

Glossary explains the meaning of the animal group names.

Thirty three animals, thirty three collective nouns, and plenty of reading fun!

View illustrations at Behance

[image source: amazon.com]

A Curious Collection of Cats

A Curious Collection of Cats
Concrete Poems by Betsy Franco
illustrations by Michael Wertz


Concrete Poems are a favorite around these parts. An all-time favorite book of concrete poems so far is A Poke in the I by Paul B. Janeczko, illustrations by Chris Raschka. Another favorite in this series by the duo is A Kick in the Head which is a fantastic introduction to poetic forms. The last in the series, A Foot in the Mouth, is a collection of fun read-aloud poems.

Recently, I came across A Curious Collection of Cats at the library and had to bring it home for the kids. Both the 9- and 6- year old liked most of the poems in their own way. The kids liked "Lenny vs. Patch", "Q-tip and Rosie", "Veronica goes Wide"... My favorites were "Bingo's Birthday Party", "Techno Cat" and "Cat Door" - clever and deceptively simple!

Also by the same team, A Dazzling Display of Dogs, is a collection of concrete poems about dogs.


[Wertzeteria.com has a lovely portfolio of the illustrator's art work]



Muddy As a Duck Puddle,
And Other American Similes
by Laurie Lawlor,
illustrated by Ethan Long

While not a book of concrete poems, this collection of American folk expressions intrigued us nevertheless...

Crooked as a barrel of snakes
Fine as a frog hair
Jittery as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs
Yellow as a flitter tree that grows beside a honey pond

Arranged from A to Z, some of these similes made no sense at first read. Colorful and descriptive at times, these long-winded ways of expressing specific phrases are explained at the back of the book.


[Teachingbooks.net's video meet with Chris Raschka]
[image source: multcolib.org]

Life is a Bowl Full of Cherries

Life is a Bowl Full of Cherries

a book of food idioms and silly pictures
by Vanita Oelschlager
illustrated by Robin Hegan



Monkey Business by Wallace Edwards was the older child's first introduction to a picture book full of idioms. And since then, we've come across a few. And now that the younger child is beginning to appreciate idioms and expressions peculiar to English, we read Life is a Bowl Full of Cherries for fun.

From the older ones like Flat as a pancake, Your goose is cooked, Pie-in-the-sky, to newer ones like The whole enchilada, Couch potato, and Big Cheese, the book showcases fifteen idioms with silly pictures as promised in the subtitle. One double-page spread per idiom states the idiom as well as gives an explanation and usage example at the bottom of the page.

A quick read, and a fun book. The trick is to get the kids to use these expressions as much as possible in the appropriate instances.

[View at ISSUU]

[image source: Net Galley]