Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Sally Snyder
The basic information on the life of snails may prompt children to look in their yards for snails and insects. This book, part of the Backyard Books series, invites listeners to imagine themselves as snails, leaving a slimy trail, eating leaves, and avoiding thrushes and foxes.
The last two pages give additional information on snails, such as that there are more than 60,000 different kinds of snails. However, one question is left unanswered: A page shows a slug and states that it is not a snail that has lost its shell. But what is not clear is how a snail looks without a shell.
Watercolor illustrations on a white background show snail features clearly and depict an intriguing snail's-eye view of the world.
Joanne Ryder's The Snail's Spell tells of a boy who experiences life as a snail. Leo Lionni's The Biggest House in the World relates the story of a snail who discovers that having a large house could result in tragedy.
From The Book
When you hatch, you look like this. This is your mother. You are much smaller than your mother. You are very, very small, but you will grow. You have two horns and two eyes on stalks. You can pull your eyes right down inside the stalks and into your head if you need to.
Plot Summary:
Do you have a shell on your back? Are you slimy? The author holds children's attention and gives them a basic science lesson by having them pretend they are snails. Young children will be intrigued by the premise and the facts. Watercolor illustrations show the snail world.
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