Talk to the ANIMALS.

Make the acquaintance of an ark-full of quirky and colorful animal characters

Henny-Penny

Grades PK-2

By Jane Wattenberg; 32 pages; Scholastic, 2000; $15.95

"CHICKABUNGA!" Henny-Penny squawks when an acorn smacks her on the head. "The sky is falling! ... I must run and tell the king." Here's a version of the Chicken Little story--with rhymes and dazzling backdrops, like the Taj Mahal--that kids will beg to hear, read, and act out again and again. In addition to a happier ending, which keeps the red chicken out of the jaws of Foxy-Loxy, the eye-popping, photo-based collages will impress children and adults.

Then try... No Dinner! The Story of the Old Woman and the Pumpkin

Grades PK-2

By Jessica Souhami; 32 pages; Cavendish, 2000; $15.95

This lively folktale from India uses elements of Three Billy Goats Gruff, Little Red Riding Hood, and The Three Little Pigs to tell how an old woman tricks three dangerous forest animals into not eating her.

Then try... Chato and the Party Animals

Grades Pk-2

By Gary Soto, illustrated by Susan Guevara; 32 pages; Putnam, 2000; $15.99

Cool cat Chato is shocked when his best barrio buddy, the stray Novio Boy, confesses he has never had a birthday party and doesn't even know when he was born. Chato plans a surprise bash, but "[Upside down exclamation point]Que, tonto!" (How dumb), when the party is underway he realizes he has neglected to invite the guest of honor. Spanish words and expressions are integrated into this zesty sequel to Chato's Kitchen.

Olivia

Grades PK-1

By Ian Falconer; 32 pages; Atheneum, 2000; $16

Little pig Olivia trundles through her days, building a sand Empire State Building at the beach, dancing instead of napping, and painting a spattered Jackson Pollock-style mural on the wall after seeing his painting at the museum. ("I could do that in about five minutes," she says. As soon as she gets home she gives it a try.) The quirky language is just right for the adorable charcoal and gouache gray-toned illustrations, set off with Olivia's all-red wardrobe. This is most certainly a picture book for all ages. Students doing literary character studies will do well by noting the effervescent personality of the well-rounded Olivia. Have listeners come up with a list of 20 words that best describe her, and think of other activities she would enjoy.

Then try.. The Grannyman

Grades PK-2

By Judith Byron Schachner; 32 pages; Dutton 1999; $15.99

Recalling his youth, the elderly Siamese cat, Simon, is ready to take his last breath when his human family surprises him with a new kitten they hope he will help raise. This new companion lifts Simon's spirits and gives him lots to do. Children can compare and contrast the personalities of the Grannyman with the piglet Olivia.

Then try... Three More Stories You Can Read to Your Dog

Grades PK-1

By Sara Swan Miller, illustrated by True Kelley; 48 pages; Houghton Mifflin, 2000; $14

In a dialogue-filled, easy-to-read chapter-book character study, told in the second person, a lovable brown dog visits the vet, mistakes a turtle for a rock, and suffers through a flea bath. Listeners can write new tales from their pets' points of view.

Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type

Grades PK-3

By Doreen Cronin, illustrated by Betsy Lewin; 32 pages; Simon & Schuster, 2000; $15

Farmer Brown can't believe it when his cows find an old typewriter in the barn and post a typed demand for electric blankets. "Cows that type? Impossible!" The farmer refuses, so the cows go on strike. Their new note reads: "Sorry. We're closed. No milk today." Soon the demands escalate, and the chickens withhold their eggs. A frustrated Farmer Brown demands milk and eggs, so the cows compromise. They will exchange their typewriter for electric blankets. The black-outlined watercolor illustrations are goofy and endearing. Note that your techno-savvy children may not know what a typewriter is, so if you have one lurking in your home, bring it in to demonstrate the click and the clack of the keys.

Then try.. Roberto the Insect Architect

Grades PK-3

By Nina Laden; 32 pages; Chronicle, 2000; $15.95

Too busy playing with his wooden food to eat it, termite Roberto dreams of becoming a famous architect. Once he comes up with a plan, he does just that, building an entire insect neighborhood. Use blocks or Legos so aspiring architects can build, or create sculptures out of found objects and scraps of cardboard and fabrics.

Then try... Eight Animals on the Town

By Susan Midleton Elya, illustrated by Lee Chapman; 32 pages; Putnam, 2000; $15.99

After dining on a feast of the different foods they bought at the market, the mouse, cat, dog, bird, frog, horse, cow, and pig set out for the baile (dance) where they dance all night. With Spanish words cleverly incorporated into the jaunty rhyming text, and entrancing folk-art illustrations, kids will learn new Spanish animal names, numbers, and foods easily. Put on a lively recording of music, and invite students to the baile! One at a time, call, out each animal, so children can dance the way each animal would.

Mammalabilia

By Douglas Florian; 46 pages; Harcourt, 2000; $16

Douglas Florian has done four original books of quirky, word-playing, animal family poems: On the Wing (1996) about birds, In the Swim (1997) about fish, and Insectiopedia (1998) about bugs. Now, he's picked a winsome bunch of mammals, each poem faced by a large watercolor. In addition to a fox, coyote, gorilla, and bear, there are aardvarks, an ibex, a tapir, and a lemur. Florian uses masterly wordplay jokes, such as the visual stutter in "The Aardvarks": "Aardvarks aare odd. / Aardvarks aare staark. / Aardvarks look better / by faar in the daark."

Then try... There's a Zoo in Room 22

By Judy Sierra, illustrated by Barney Saltzberg; 32 pages; Harcourt, 2000; $16

There are 26 marvelous pets in Miss Darling's classroom, from an anaconda to a "zorilla," and her kids describe each one of them in jaunty rhyme. Pet-lovers can look through animal books to select new pets that might be fun to keep in school, and write and illustrate poems about them.

I Was a Rat!

Grades 4-7

By Philip Pullman, illustrated by Kevin Hawkes; 165 pages; Knopf, 2000; $15.95

This tongue-in-cheek black comedy comes at the Cinderella tale from a new angle and will be a wonderful title for introducing Cinderella variants, from fairy tales to Gail Carson Levine's Ella Enchanted.

Then try... Prince of the Pond: Otherwise Known as De Fawg Pin

Grades 3-6

By Donna Jo Napoli; illustrated by Judith Byron Schachner; 151 pages; Dutton, 1992; $13

"Hep me," the uncoordinated, speech-impaired, but good-looking frog begs Jade. Jade teaches the newly-bewitched former human prince lessons in frog behavior in a novelized expansion of the fairy tale, "The Frog Prince."

JUDY FREEMAN is a children's literature consultant, workshop presenter, and the author of More books Kids will Sit Still For (Bowker/Greenwood 1995:

ACTIVITY: Henny-Penny

Act It Out!--If you've never tried creative drama with your children before, there's no better story than this with which to start you off. When you read the book aloud the first time, children can chime in on all the repeated refrains, especially Foxy's wicked little rhymes, such as "Looking JUICY, Goosey," and "You're in luck, Duck." Have students take turns playing each animal so everyone has a part, and encourage actors to paraphrase any dialogue they can't remember. They can also make name tags and draw their animals' pictures on them.

ACTIVITY: Olivia

Animal Characters--Ask your students: "What creature would you be if you were an animal character in a story?" Have them draw themselves as those animals, and list 20 words that define their own personalities. Next, they can do some imaginative writing about themselves as animals, pulling in anecdotes from their lives, to compose and Illustrate a story about their daily routine, incorporating their singular talents, hobbies, and interests. This is a novel way to approach autobiographies, and to demonstrate how facts are a vita! part of fiction writing.

ACTIVITY: Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type

Writing Letters and Scripts -- Try some persuasive letter writing where your students pretend to be farm animals and write to Farmer Brown trying to convince him to make improvements. This story also lends itself wonderfully to Reader's Theater. Type it up in script form and have your students read it aloud as they act it out. Write parts for cows, chickens, ducks, narrators, and, of course, the beleaguered Farmer Brown. An old computer keyboard makes a nice prop if you don't have that old typewriter.

ACTIVITY: Mammalabilia

Learn an Animal Poem--When assigning those ever-popular animal reports, have your students find a poem (and/or a fable or a folktale) about their animals, starting with Florian's books, and then using indexes of animal-poetry books to find more. Children can memorize their poems, and draw pictures of them to present as a start to their otherwise factual oral reports. And, after researching their mammals, students can use the facts they've found to write new poems about them, striving to capture the essence of each animal in their own words, as Florian does so exquisitely.

ACTIVITY: I Was a Rat!

Exploring Point of View--Listeners should look for clues to discover Roger's origins and figure out how they tie into the Cinderella tale. Next, they can select another fairy tale and rewrite it from a minor character's point of view. Taking a lead from the sensationalizing paper, The Daily Scourge, they can also write, illustrate, and design on the computer news flashes to flesh out their stories.