Around the World on Eighty Legs

Around the World on Eighty Legs:
Animal Poems

This post is part of Nonfiction Monday 

hosted today by Apple With Many Seeds

Scholastic Press

(pub. 3.1.2011)  56 pages 

A True Tale with A Cherry On Top

A uthor: Amy Gibson
     and illustrator:  Daniel Salmieri

C haracters: animals from around the world

 

O verview from the jacket flap: 

"Pack your bags and put on your travelin' shoes ... There's an animal adventure waiting for you!  Awake with the howler monkeys, twist into a pretzel like a quetzal, hang with a sloth, be willy-nilly like a chinchilla.

Squawk with an auk, bump your rump like a camel, be silly with a bilby, and drift off to sleep in the deep of the outback.

Fun-filled and fact-packed, Around the World on Eighty Legs is the ticket to an unforgettable adventure!"

T antalizing taste:
                          WEDDELL SEAL

                          

                          "The Weddell seal's

                           a poor landlubber,

                          lumbering under

                          all that blubber.

                          But in the sea,

                          the joke's on you -

                          He's toasty warm.

                          You're turning blue."

and something more:   I met the wonderful children's book author, Amy Gibson, this past weekend at the northern California SCBWI Fall Conference held at Mills College. Amy and I were on a panel together, and the other terrific speakers included agent Deborah Warren (East/West Literary Agency), editor Andrea Welch (Beach Lane Books), senior editor Schuyler Hooke (Random House Books), agent Paul Rodeen (Rodeen Literary Management), and children's book authors Deborah Lee Rose, Eric Elfman, Nikki Smith, Naheed Hasnat, Rose Cooper, and Diana Greenwood. 
     Amy spoke about the road to the publication of this fun and informative picture book, Around the World on Eighty Legs. And thank goodness the book was published because kids, families, teachers and librarians will love this "trip around the world."
     The "Menagerie of Facts" at the back of the book is filled with intriguing information about all the animals.  I loved these facts about the Weddell seal -- "Weddell seals spend lots of time beneath the ice, diving over 2,000 feet and holding their breath for over an hour. They look like they're smiling. Perhaps they are ..."  Of course, I had to search for Google images of the Weddell seals ... and they DO look like they are smiling!