Slap, Squeak & Scatter

Author/Illustrator: Steve Jenkins

Published by: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2001

Genre: Informational text, picture book

Age Range: grades 2-4

This book is about the different ways animals communicate. Jenkins breaks the book into sections. The first section describes how animals use sound to warn other members of their groups about danger. A beaver slaps it's tail against the water, for example. The second section describes how animals communicate whether they want to be friendly with other animals or want to fight. The next section explains how some animals use different forms of communication to find a mate. The fourth section gives examples of how animals keep their groups together or locate one another. The fifth section shows how animals tell each other where they can find food and the last section tells how animals mark their territory to communicate that it is theirs. Jenkins, again uses collages of interesting papers from around the world to illustrate the different animals he writes about and the environments that they are acting in.

This is the second Steve Jenkins book that I have read and I loved it, just as I loved the other one. When I began to read this book I was babysitting 3 year olds and decided I might be able to get some school work done at the same time. I pulled the book out to sit down and read it myself but the minute one of the 3 year olds saw it she was immediatly in my lap ready to be read to. She loved his illustrations and liked trying to name the different animals. Some of the animals represented were unfamiliar to her but they were also unfamiliar to me. We were both learning from this book. I think that shows the power of good informational children's literature, it can show new ideas to both a 3 year old and a 20 year old. When a book can teach children that are being read to, children that are reading on their own, and the adults that read to children that shows that it is quality literature. I also love Jenkins' illustrations. They are so realistic for them to be made out of paper. I found myself showing this book to fellow art majors, who found that they enjoyed his technique as well.

This book would be great in the regular classroom as well as the art classroom. Teachers could use it to teach lessons about different kinds of animals, but they could also use it to talk about communication with in the classroom. After reading this book and seeing how animals communicate, students could work together as a class or maybe in small groups to think about different ways that humans communicate. These discussions could lead to talking about ways to communicate that would encourage working together, violence provention, dealing with arguments, and other skills that will help children to treat each other with respect. Students could also find out what other cultures find offensive or polite and this could teach students to not jump to conclusions about how they interpret what another is communicating. Art is a form of communication but different people and different cultures have their own set of ideas behind what different symbols and imagery mean. One of the competency goals in the NC Standard course of Study as early as grade 1 aks students to "choose and evaluate a range of subject matter and ideas to communicate intended meaning in artworks." A competency goal for grade 2 is for the learner to "develop skills neccessary for understanding and applying media, techniques and processes." This includes learning how to use cut paper, express mood and feelings and create visual effects and textures using the learned media. What better way to teach what can be accomplished with cut paper than to show them the work of Steve Jenkins?