Nonfiction - WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN SOMETHING WANTS TO EAT YOU?

Bibliography
Jenkins, Steve. 1997. WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN SOMETHING WANTS TO EAT YOU? Houghton Mifflin Company. New York, New York. ISBN 0395825148.

Plot Summary
This nonfiction book explains how animals try to avoid dangerous predators. Illustrations are done with cut paper collage.

Critical Analysis
Steve Jenkins creatively put together a great book to discuss animal predators and how animals are able to defend themselves. The layout is wonderful because readers read about the potential predator and prey before they see how prey manages to escape being eaten. I like that readers can make predictions before turning the page. For example on one page Jenkins wrote, “When an octopus is threatened…” then the reader must urn the page to see “it squirts a think cloud of black ink into the water confusing its attacker.” I also like that Jenkins refers to the animals by proper names not just a beetle but “The bombardier beetle”. The illustrations are filled with color from the paper collage. Animals look realistic and are textured through the use of the various papers. This is a beautiful book for introducing animals and their predators.

Review Excerpt(s)
From School Library Journal “The artist's trademark cut-paper collages on textured backgrounds show both attacker and potential prey on one page, and then a close-up of the animal escaping on the next.”From Horn Book
“Young children will delight in first guessing, then seeing, how each of fourteen unusual animals avoids becoming someone else’s dinner”
From Kirkus Reviews
“Layered cut-paper collage animals are positioned in dramatic stances against textured handmade-paper backgrounds. In a few instances, the black typeface is difficult to discern when it is superimposed on the dark green of leaf or grass.”

Connections
*This book could be used to help readers understand how animals defend themselves.
*This book could be a great supplement to a lesson on the food chain and how animals might try to defend themselves.
Mullin, Rita Thievon. WHO’S FOR DINNER PREDATORS AND PREY. ISBN 0517800055
Kalman, Bobbie. HOW DO ANIMALS ADAPT? ISBN 0865059802
Kalman, Boobie and MacAulay, Kelley. PRAIRIE FOOD CHAINS. ISBN 0778719472