Title: Babies In The Bayou
Author: Jim Arnoksy
Illustrator: Jim Arnosky
Publisher: The Penguin Group
Year of Publication: 2007
Genre: Fiction
Horn Book or Kirkus Reviews Rating: Horn Book -3, Kirkus Starred Review
Summary: Babies In The Bayou is a short and simple book that tastefully describes the animals that can be found in the bayou. Throughout the story, the food chain is depicted.
Summary of Professional Reviews: Although the book is about the formation of the food chain, the Horn Book Guide feels that through the acrylic illustrations and the rhythm of the text, the journey through the bayou is soothing, not scary.
Review By Lauren Miller: I found this book to be very calming and easy to read. Although the story is about the food chain, the illustrations made me feel relaxed instead of anxious. The background bayou illustrations look like they were made with watercolors. The individual animals looked like they were drawn with acrylics. I enjoyed the difference of art mediums. The text never directly states that the book is about the food chain. The text simply describes the animals in the pictures. For the reason of needing to use interpretation skills, I recommended different lessons pertaining to the book for different grades.
This book would be useful when teaching:
Author: Jim Arnoksy
Illustrator: Jim Arnosky
Publisher: The Penguin Group
Year of Publication: 2007
Genre: Fiction
Horn Book or Kirkus Reviews Rating: Horn Book -3, Kirkus Starred Review
Summary: Babies In The Bayou is a short and simple book that tastefully describes the animals that can be found in the bayou. Throughout the story, the food chain is depicted.
Summary of Professional Reviews: Although the book is about the formation of the food chain, the Horn Book Guide feels that through the acrylic illustrations and the rhythm of the text, the journey through the bayou is soothing, not scary.
Review By Lauren Miller: I found this book to be very calming and easy to read. Although the story is about the food chain, the illustrations made me feel relaxed instead of anxious. The background bayou illustrations look like they were made with watercolors. The individual animals looked like they were drawn with acrylics. I enjoyed the difference of art mediums. The text never directly states that the book is about the food chain. The text simply describes the animals in the pictures. For the reason of needing to use interpretation skills, I recommended different lessons pertaining to the book for different grades.
This book would be useful when teaching:
- about families. The story tells how the mother's watch after their young and always protects them. A connection could be shown to a young audience (Pre-S through Kindergarten) about family units.
- about the food chain. In older grades like 1st or 2nd, this book could be used during a science lesson. The book describes how the food chain works and how it is continuous. Students could create stories about other animals in food chains and share their knowledge with their classmates.