Slow Snail

by Mary Murphy

Where is that snail going so s-l-o-w-l-y? Mary Murphy brings her surefire baby appeal to this bright concept book.Snail is soooo slow! It takes her all day to slide down her flower, through a boot, under a stick, along a bottle, and in and out of a brick, trailing silver all the way. But when she finally arrives at her vegetable bed, it’s worth it — she’s just in time for dinner!

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Childrens, Storytime

16 pages, Board Book

First published July 1, 2012

About the author

Children's author and illustrator Mary Murphy enchants even the youngest of readers with her bold style, combining eye-catching graphics and a bouncy text that seemingly jump off the pages.

Mary Murphy has an advanced diploma in Visual Communications and has written and illustrated a number of children's books, including her lift-the-flap, pull-the-tab book about friendship, ROXIE AND BO TOGETHER. In addition to creating children's books, she teaches illustration. The author-illustrator lives in Galway, Ireland.

Reviews

[Regina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slow Snail by Mary Murphy is an adorable board book about a snail’s travels down a flower, over a stone, through a boot and onto his final destination – dinner! Of course, all of this happens s-l-o-w-l-y. Young children will enjoy following snail’s trail of slime across the pages. Mary Murphy’s cartoon character portrayal of the snail will endear small children. Her eye-catching bold colors done in ink and watercolor will keep their focus on the book as well. This book can be used to teach students the concept of positional words or prepositions such as under, over, and through. It can also be used to introduce pre-schoolers to the letter “S”. To teach young children about opposites, pair Slow Snail with Mary Murphy’s Quick Duck.

[Reyn Van · Rating 3 out of 5]

At 8 months old Reyn likes this book but it is not a favourite. Perhaps he will enjoy it more as he gets a little older and can follow the snail trail with his finger but right now it's just not as exciting for him as some of his other books.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rating this as a storytime book— not enough plot and too repetitive. Lap read for 0-2 only, and probably works well for them.

[FirnMamaMakes · Rating 1 out of 5]

AJ didn't even really want to sit to flip through this more than the first time, and she requests much longer books. Just uninteresting.

[Emily Carter-Dunn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty boring with little plot.

Would be suitable for younger children, but they may have trouble tracing the trails.

[Jenna Mills · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simple and sweet

[Miss Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great board book about the slow journey of a snail. Toddler and up

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Use sound effects and read aloud...great book.

[Suzanne Lorraine Kunz Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute book. It might be a nice one to read when you are talking about persistence and how slow and steady can win the race.

[Katelynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute book with some sensory fun. Snail leaves a pretty shimmery trail children can trace with their fingers.

[Meredith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Snail slides s-l-o-w-l-y along.

This board book uses silver foil stamping to illustrate the snail’s slime trail.

[Addie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simple and cute. 2 year old liked it too

[Bonnie Ferrante · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a delightful board book that would make a wonderful addition to any toddler’s collection. Each page features a cute little snail sliding s-l-o-w-l-y over, under, through, along, in, and out of simple items found in the yard. The entire book is a single sentence. It begins “snail slide s-l-o-w-l-y down her flower…” and ends “just in time for… dinner!” There, the snail encounters another snail and together they munch their way through a head of lettuce. As well as following the grand adventure of the little snail, toddlers are exposed to the concepts of over, under, through, along, in, and out.

The illustrations are perfect. They are bright, simple, close-ups of the flower, stone, boot, stick, bottle, brick, and head of lettuce. Each journey is a double page spread. Best of all, the snail leaves a shiny silver trail wherever he goes. Toddlers will love tracing the path of the cute snail with googly eyes. Highly recommended for ages 1 to 3.

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Synopsis: "Where is that snail going so s-l-o-w-l-y? Mary Murphy brings her surefire baby appeal to this bright concept book.

Snail is soooo slow! It takes her all day to slide down her flower, through a boot, under a stick, along a bottle, and in and out of a brick, trailing silver all the way. But when she finally arrives at her vegetable bed, it’s worth it — she’s just in time for dinner!"

My Review: This book is very appropriate for really young ones. It is a simple story with big illustrations and a silver 'snail trail' to catch their eye. It is not so entertaining for adults but Munchkin seemed to enjoy it. I think as he gets older I might make up my own elaboration of the story to make it a little more interesting.

[Dee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply I rated this a 5 because my daughter (18 months) would grab it and open it up try to trace the best she could and make e sounds we did with the snails trail.

The book itself is very simple and about a snail going slowly over and under and through things. Eventually she meets up with her friend to eat! The illustration is simple and nice. Almost water color like. I like it. The snails trail is a nice shiny silver so it's extra special for the kids to see and follow. Wen we read it we would trace the trail and make sounds to go with like going on a roller coaster.

[Russell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Imagine if Frodo's grand journey was just for some lembas bread? What if Odysseus was just out to pick up some stuffed grape leaves? The snail's just on her epic long quest to eat a leaf. She started on a leaf. That's like a pair of stoners leaving Hoboken to have a series of misadventures on their way to a White Castle in Cherry Hill, when there was a White Castle in Jersey City all along. But without the fun story and NPH along the way.

[Great Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slowly creeping and climbing her way through various objects such as a boot, a bottle, and a brick, a little snail is on her way to a dinner. Little ones will enjoy this board book as they follow snail's silvery trail throughout this simple story. Reviewer 17

[jacky · Rating 4 out of 5]

William loves snails since seeing Tubro. We read another book by Mary Murphy that was very similar. Its a very simple story, and very short (which makes it great to choose when you are asked to read something but don't really want to or have time). I like that it focuses on prepositions.

[Shallowreader VaVeros · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this board book! A snail travels slowly through a backyard through stones, sticks, bricks and shoes. The reader follows the shiny, embossed snail trail. A perfect balance of art, words and action. My favourite board book this year!

[Jacinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think it's a shame this book is labelled so much as a baby's book, whilst yes it definitely has elements aimed at a baby I think older kids will also get benefits from following the snail's trail across the pages as well.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

AWWW! Love this board book. A shiny trail is left wherever the snail goes.

[Ruth Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love color and simplicity! Love large font which was hand lettered by the author!

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the colorful illustrations in this children's board book. I especially loved that the snail's trail was in shiny silver. Good book to learn the concepts of in, out, down, through, over, etc.

[R · Rating 3 out of 5]

The slow snail leaves a shiny silver slime trail.

[Peacegal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kids should enjoy tracing the trail the snail makes through the book.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Babytime!

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 3-yr-old enjoyed tracing the shimmery trail on every page. At the end she thrilled with her own interpretation exclaiming, "Friends!"

[Kimberly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I d-o-o-o-on't exactly see the p-o-o-o-o-int of this b-o-o-o-o-k.

[Vicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great introduction to prepositions, with very colorful and shiny illustrations.

[Janet · Rating 2 out of 5]

This board book just didn't catch my imagination