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Little Skink's Tail |
Reviews & Endorsements
Library Media Connection - January 2008 Gr 2-4–Little Skink loves her beautiful blue tail, but when a crow pecks at it, she snaps it off, thus saving her life. After her dramatic escape, she envisions herself with the tails of the other animals, but only one is right–her own. This tale has some funny moments, as well as information. Klein’s playful watercolors are vibrant and depict a lively forested world. The book could be used in a unit on woodland animals, and the reproducible nature activities in the back make it attractive to teachers. –Susan E. Murray, Glendale Public Library, AZ
Fuse #8 - October 2007 Little Skink was having a perfectly nice day right up until the moment a hungry crow decided to make a quick snack of her. Snapping off her own bright blue tail (as skinks tend to do in these situations) she escapes beneath a log as the crow dives for the still wiggling ex-extremity. The next day Little Skink feels a bit bereft without her tail. Looking at some of the other animals in the forest, she contemplates the advantages of growing one tail over another. Bunnies have nice tails but they're awful puffy. Squirrels would be fun, but there's a bushiness there to be reckoned with. Systematically Little Skink rules out the advantages of having the tails of deer, skunks, porcupines, owls, and turtles, each time imagining the tails on her own body. A couple days later, though, the perfect tail grows back. One of the bright bottle blue persuasion. Factual back matter round out the book by teaching kids about animal tracks, navigation, and the evolutionary advantages of one tail over another. The book could have gone wrong a variety of different ways. If Halfmann had made it too cute and filled it with adorable talking woodland creatures, for example. Or she could have made the skink actually grow these tails rather than just imagine what they'd look like. Yet Halfmann is pretty adept at keeping strictly to the factual elements of her story. If the book is cute, that's only because it never trips into preciousness. The narrative is straightforward as well. Personally, I might have suggested turning the various tails Little Skink tries out into bright blue versions, but I can see why the decision was made to keep them their original colors. A child reading this book might have a hard time connecting a bright blue deer tail to its subtler, browner equivalent, after all. Laurie Allen Klein's endearing skink is probably the real reason I wanted to get my hands on the book, though. A clever idea will get you only so far in the picture book market. If your illustrator is sub-par then it really doesn't matter how wonderful your words are. No one is going to purchase a picture book if they think it looks unprofessional. Fortunately for everyone Klein's illustrations are a nice mix of cute and accurate. She plays with angles and perspective enough to keep the eye constantly in motion. The ratio of animal sizes in this book is consistent as well. According to the bookflap of this title, Sherry Crawley, Director of Education for the School and Family Programs at Zoo Atlanta, went through this book to verify the accuracy of the information. Certainly the back matter is fun and nicely educational. Still, though this section is useful in many ways, I would have appreciated more time spent discussing skinks and their amazing regeneration abilities. Just a quick sentence or two about the critters would have been sufficient to my needs. All that aside, "Little Skink's Tail" is a nice example of a simple idea brought to life in a picture book format with plenty of factual matter to complement the fiction. An ideal purchase for those parts of the country overridden with skinks, and those parts that know nothing about them and would benefit from a well-written story. A book worth noticing. -Elizabeth Bird I left Wichita in January 1982 to join the staff of Copley Press’ The San Diego Union and never saw Halfmann again, but we exchanged Christmas cards. And during the intervening years, I learned that she left the news biz herself to become a highly respected and popular writer of children’s books. And who would be more qualified to do that that someone who talked the talk and walked the walk of someone who truly cared about kids and families and treating everyone with respect? Now, as someone who personally still loves to read children’s books (I once had aspirations to write kids’ books), I see she has new children’s book out — and it is a winner. The title: Little Skink’s Tail, and her note to readers on Amazon is typically Janet: Dear Reader, I hope you enjoy pretending with Little Skink as much as I enjoyed daydreaming with her while I wrote Little Skink’s Tail. I met Little Skink when I was writing a nonfiction book about all kinds of lizards. There she was, twitching her bright blue tail, and I knew she had a story to tell. Before long, she was slinking in and out of our dress-up box, showing off tail after tail. She reminded me of my granddaughter — one of the world’s great pretenders! While I watched the show in my daydreams, I got the chance to play with words, imagining the fun things Little Skink would say about each tail. What a wonderful time we had, and I wish the same for you! Happy Reading, Janet Halfmann The story follows Little Skink, who dreams of having the tails of other animals in the forest. Skinks can regrow their tails…but we won’t give the rest of the delightful plot away (you can read people giving it away on amazon if you check out the rave reviews). But it’s written in the way Halfmann did her reporting: solid, stylish and something you’d be proud to show to anyone. And what better recommendation than THAT to readers who’ll buy the book to show it to their most prized people — their children? -Joe Gandelman
The lovely nature illustrations that accompany this tail, errr tale, offer details for the curious child to discover. Those who look closely at the illustrations will discover the story of a caterpillar that changes into a chrysalis from which appears a monarch butterfly. Several pages of activities allow children to learn about animal tracks and why each animal has a different type of tail. I have always been partial to skinks. Partly it's because I think "skink" is fun to say, especially if you say "skeeenk." Partly it's because there are skinks at my parents' house, so they remind me of my happy childhood (and reasonably happy young adulthood, and happy trips down there with my own kids). Little Skink's Tail, by Janet Halfmann, illustrated by Laurie Allen Klein (2007, Sylvan Dell Publishing), is the cutest skink picture book I have ever read (it is also the only skink book I've ever read, but still it's darn cute). A Wrung Sponge - September 2007 But tragedy almost befalls Little Skink. A crow almost had Little Skink for breakfast! Fortunately the tail can detach—and while the crow followed the wiggle-waggle tail, Little Skink found refuge. But now Little Skink had no tail. As she met other forest animals in the coming days, she wondered how she would look with their tails. The illustrations showing these possible combinations are very clever! Can you imagine a lizard with the tail of a rabbit, squirrel, deer, turtle, skunk, or porcupine? Of course Little Skink found a reason each tail would not be right. So does Little Skink get a new tail? Early readers will enjoy finding this out. Smaller children will enjoy the colorful illustrations as the book is read to them—and most small children love animals anyway. The book does have exercises for children in the back. One as a grid to locate the hoof prints of the animals Little Skink dreams of sharing tails with. The other is a matching exercise where the child matches the tail with its description. A squirrel's tail is too bushy, nor does a porcupine's tail please. And feathers? Still no. Halfmann really runs with this idea, keeping the storyline simple but upping the ante as Skink considers the different appendages. Even kids unfamiliar with most of these animals will get the humor in Skink's good-natured tail shopping. Klein's watercolors are lifelike, the better to educate, and exercises in the back enhance our foray into Skink's forest. Like If a Dolphin Were a Fish, (also by this illustrator) it's a fanciful way of teaching what an animal is by demonstrating what it isn't -- which uses fairy-tale transformation to impart factual information. -Anne Levy
Your children will be mesmerized by the story as well as the beautiful illustrations that accompany this tale of tails. My children could not wait for story time in our house when this book arrived. I gathered them all around in our story circle, as well call it, and read to them the story of Little Skink's Tail. I'm not sure they even blinked an eye as the story unfolded. I know the story as well as the illustrations kept their interest and it helped that we have skinks on our property. At the end of the book, there are two activity pages to familiarize your child with animal tracks as well as their tails. I knew my children were really paying attention when my 3 year old could tell me what tail belonged to which animal in the story. I can see now that I will be making copies of those two pages for my children to do (over and over and over). My oldest boys have already read this book 3 or 4 times more each since our first initial reading. I'm not sure who loved this book more... them or I! As an added bonus, the publisher offers online teaching links on their site for Teaching Activities, and Learning Links. The author, Janet Halfmann, has been writing for children for more than twenty years, and this is her 28th book. Before becoming a full-time freelance children’s writer, she was a manager, editor, and writer of coloring and activity books for Golden Books; the editor of a national children’s magazine; and a reporter for a daily newspaper. A member of the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, Janet has recently published Alligator at Saw Grass Road (fall 2006), Polar Bear Horizon, Canada Goose at Cattail Lane, Dolphin's Rescue, Red Bat at Sleepy Hollow Lane, and Pelican’s Catch. Janet was inspired to write Little Skink’s Tail while researching for one of her other books, Nature’s Predators: Lizards, and for an article that she wrote for Ranger Rick, “Slinky Skinks.” Another inspiration was her granddaughter, whom she enjoys watching play dress-up and pretend. As Janet wrote the book, she pictured her granddaughter putting on and showing off each tail. -Laura Williams
Mayra's Secret Bookcase - October 2007 One day Little Skink, a blue-tailed young lizard, is basking on a big rock in the morning sun. Leaping to the floor, she begins to gobble up her breakfast, which consists of yummy-smelling ants, when suddenly a big crow appears and attacks. Luckily, Little Skink manages to escape. There’s only one problem: her tail is gone! Where did her bright blue tail go? Did the crow snap it off? What will Little Skink do now, without her wiggling, waggling tail? She’s happy to be alive, but sad at having lost her tail. She can’t get her lost tail off her mind, so she begins to imagine how she would look with other animals’ tails. How would she look with a rabbit’s tail? This is a colorful, engaging, beautifully illustrated book that teaches children about animals and their tails. At the end of the book there are activities for ‘Creative Minds’—a footprint map and a game for matching different types of tails with their corresponding animals. -Mayra Calvani
-Sarah Livesay Little Skink's Tail, written by Janet Halfmann and illustrated by Laurie Allen Klein is an educational picture book from Sylvan Dell Publishing. Although the story of Little Skink and her lost tail is fiction, the book is based on facts about skinks and other animals. Skinks are a type of lizard. According to Wikipedia, "Skinks usually have long, tapering tails that can be shed and regenerated... Some have blue tails."
The Little Skink in our book has a long, blue tail. One morning, while Little Skink is eating breakfast, a crow comes along and grabs her. To protect herself, Little Skink sheds her tail. The tail continues to wiggle, distracting the crow, giving Little Skink time to hide and save herself. On subsequent mornings, missing her tail, Little Skink imagines what it would be like to have the tail of various other animals. The resulting illustrations are quite humorous, especially the lizard with an owl's tail. Fortunately, things turn out exactly right for Little Skink in the end. While not exactly long on plot, Little Skink's Tail (which I keep wanting to call Little Skink's Tale) is educational and humorous. I think that it will be a hit with animal-loving preschoolers, especially boys looking for facts in an engaging package. The text is both poetic and energetic. Here's an example: "Wiggle, waggle, wiggle, The crow forgot all about Little Skink. As the crow bounced I personally find "Little Skink slinked" to be very pleasing text. And I can imagine young readers wiggling and wriggling in delight when they read the above passage. Laurie Allen Klein's illustrations are in textured colored pencil, with a faint cross-hatch pattern. It's somewhat impressionistic - forming shadows from a distance, but visible as texture from close up. From very close up, the pictures look like embroidery. The palette uses mainly greens and browns, reflecting the colors of the forest. One other nice thing I noticed in the illustrations is that each page spread contains, hidden away somewhere in a corner, a glimpse of the animal whose tail will be featured on the next page. So, for instance, while Little Skink is imagining how she would look with a rabbit's tail, a squirrel looks on from a tree. On the next page, Little Skink imagines herself with a squirrel's tail, and another animal looks on. I think that this is a great feature for reading with preschoolers - giving them a pattern to watch for. I also like how Little Skink's posture changes depending on which tail she's wearing. I think it could be fun for kids to act out the various postures. At the end of the book are two page spreads of exercises for kids. The publishers suggested xeroxing these pages, and also offer them for download from the Little Skink website (the For Creative Minds PDF). The first page has a footprint map of the forest, asking kids to locate the footprints of different types of animals on a grid of the forest floor. Supplemental questions ask them to count the distance in squares between animals, and practice compass directions. The next page asks kids to match pictures of different animal tails with their descriptions, and includes tidbits about how the various animals use their tails. All in all, I think this is a great read for kids who like facts, and for kids who love animals (especially lizards). Little Skink is a winner. I support Sylvan Dell and the authors for their efforts to make learning about science and nature educational. I look forward to seeing their future offerings. -Jen Robinson
This charming story is about Little Skink, a lizard, who's enjoying a nice peaceful day…that is, until she goes hunting for ants for breakfast. A hungry crow goes after Little Skink's distinctive blue tail. In order to save herself from becoming Crow's breakfast, Little Skink snaps off her blue tail. Her tail continues to wiggle, keeping Crow's attention. Little Skink uses the opportunity to save herself by hiding under a log. Little Skink is sad about losing her tail, so she starts to wonder what it would be like to have a tail like one of the other animals in the forest. Every day, she imagines she has the tail of whatever animal walks by her. No tail is suitable, and she's sure she'll never find "just the right tail" to replace her lost bright blue one. The story ends on an upbeat note, sure to please the reader. Author Janet Halfmann's precise text makes this a fun story to read. Coupled with the outstanding illustrations by Laurie Allen Klein, the reader is provided with excellent visuals to see Little Skink in the assorted tails she sports while trying to find "just the right tail". This scientifically accurate book has a "For Creative Minds" section at the end of the story with a unique Footprint Map to help children recognize the distinct footprints of several animals, as well as a "Tail Matching" Activity to help the reader remember and correctly identify the tails of the animals portrayed in this story. As always, Sylvan Dell Publishing has printed a quality, beautiful, fun, and scientifically accurate book for children. Author Janet Halfmann's text urges children to think in a logical, creative way; add in the colorful, crisp images created by Laurie Allen Klein, this book is a sure bet to stimulate the minds of animal-loving children everywhere!
Little Skink misses her tail, but passes her days imagining the tails of her forest friends attached to her own body. But, of course, no other tail is quite right. A porcupine's tail is "too stickly-prickly," for example, and a deer's too "short and stubby." Halfmann has a lot of fun with language in Little Skink's Tail, using snappy, evocative adjectives to bring a sense of fun to the skink's search for a new tail. Laurie Allen Klein's illustrations are warm and foresty, with friendly animals scampering across a green and brown landscape. Little Skink's Tail is perfect for three-to six-year-old naturalists and for school units on animal adaptations or lizards. -Kelly Herold, Big A little a
Oh no, Little Skink’s Tail is stolen! She is scared and sad. Can she get another tail? What kind of tail would she like next? A skunk’s tail, a turtle’s tail, an owl’s tail? No tails she sees in the forest seems just right. Luckily, she is a lizard. Do you know how lizards get their tails? This book will tell you. -Judith Nasse
- Anne-Marie Nichols in a "Last-minute Gift Ideas for Young Children" post
BookPleasures.com - March 2008 Janet Halfmann’s Little Skink’s Tail has something a lot of nonfiction books for children don’t—it has a moral just like fiction. The story’s got a natural science bent, but perhaps the real value of the story is that everything is perfect, just as it is. While Skink has breakfast, she almost becomes breakfast herself. When a crow attacks her, she quickly snaps off her tail and escapes. Without her tail, she’s a bit sad. She tries to imagine herself with another tail—a rabbit’s tail, a squirrel’s tail, a skunk’s tail… and so it goes. Then, one day, she realizes she has a new tail—the familiar blue tail she always loved. It’s grown back and she likes it that way. No other tail is just right for skink. Although Skink made me chuckle a few times, this book is neither too cute nor too serious. Halfmann handles the subject skillfully. Children will love the story and adults and teachers will appreciate the tone and accuracy. Laurie Allen Klein’s illustrations are smartly cute. By that, I mean that children are going to love Skink in her many tails, but Klein never goes too far. Her pictures are likeable, but still sensitive to the book’s purpose. The back matter includes a section on adaptation and communication and a mix and match activity, using tails of course. Like everything I’ve ever read from Sylvan Dell Publishing, this book is a treat. -Susan Harkins |
- Written by Janet Halfmann and illustrated by Laurie Allen Klein, this story follows Little Skink while she hunts yummy ants for breakfast. Suddenly she's attacked by a crow, and escapes by snapping off her tail! Little Skink is happy to be alive, but she misses her bright blue tail. She daydreams of having the tails of other animals in the forest and tries on tail after tail. Like all books from Sylvan Dell Publishing, the book comes with a “For Creative Minds” section with information on tail adaptations and communications and a mix-and-match tail activity. Check out the Sylvan Dell website for
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