Animals Should Definitely Not Act Like People

by Judi Barrett, Ron Barrett (Illustrator)

Animals should definitely not act like people.
...because it would be foolish for a fish, so silly for a sheep, and preposterous for a panda -- as Ron Barrett's wonderfully detailed drawings show.
This book will show children a new way of looking at animals and people, even as they laugh.

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Childrens, Humor, Fiction, Fantasy

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Judi Barrett is the author of many well-loved books for children, including Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, Pickles to Pittsburgh, Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing, and Things That Are Most in the World. She teaches art to kindergarten students at a school in her Brooklyn, New York, neighborhood. And she usually doesn't mind going to the dentist!

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. Of course it's sorta funny, maybe more so to a child than to me. And of course I like the ending, especially if it makes a child think about how wicked traditional zoos are. But I can't recommend it.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Might be difficult for very small children to understand what is happening in all of the pictures (it took me a moment to realize the pigeon is in an airplane seat), but there is plenty of absurdity. I don't find this one as much fun as Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing, perhaps because it's not as straightforward. In the earlier book, the humor comes from each animal's particular problem with wearing an item of clothing. In this book, the situations vary, so it takes a moment to figure out exactly what human activity each animal is attempting, and why it is silly. The moments spent in orienting oneself to each picture blur the comedy a bit.

That said, I defy any child not to laugh at the hippo with his butt stuck in the bathtub.

[Jason Sharp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amusing book with some excellent humor, a funny way of showing how hard it would be for animals to act like humans.

Two favorite pages: Dog walking another smaller dog, holding a pooper scooper and looking bored. Shots of animals crowding around a person's cage (caption is "and most of all, because we wouldn't like it").

Easily paired with a creative writing exercise where the readers have to create their own page. Might even be fun to put in a binder for future classes.

[Kaitlynne Manley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is interesting and would be fun for kids. It has words that don’t specifically rhyme but they start with the same letters like “ostrich, odd”.

[Mort · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book is funny. Great illustrations.

[IUS F19 Katelyn Butler · Rating 2 out of 5]

This describes with cute illustrations why animals should not act like people.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the other "Animals Should" books, but this one is just meh. Some of the scenes are funny, but I think the humor will go straight over kids' heads.

[Ziem · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es un libro muy gracioso🖤

[KaitandMaddie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a bit meh, and we didn’t love the partial sentences.

[Krista · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as this authors book Animals Should Definitely Not Where Clothing.
There were some good pics with lines but a few lame ones.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

This unfortunately was very disappointing. I thought that the graphic woodcut-like illustrations and simple text and funny concept would be lots of fun, but found it instead kind of forced and boring. Had there been more text about why things didn't make sense instead of relying so heavily on the pictures, it may have lived up to my expectations.

[Joy · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the same vein of Animals should definitely not wear clothing but with animals acting like people.

This is by one of the author/illustrators of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.

The illustrations are ink and watercolor.

[Jennifer (sullivan) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Genre: Picture Book/Fiction

I thought that the funniest part of this book is seeing an illustration of a fish fishing and a bord riding in an airplane. I also enjoyed the book as a whole and all of the illusrations

[The Brothers · Rating 3 out of 5]

An okay book, but not as whimiscal or charming as Animals Should Definitely NOT Wear Clothes, or Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. In this short story, the author lists a variety of animals and why they should not partake in people behavior.

Nicely goofy illustrations.

[Stacy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The edition I read is from Scholastic, published in October 1991. This book teaches alliteration and gives goofy reasons why animals shouldn't act like people. There are very few words on the pages, and the illustrations are muted in color.

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just remember this from my childhood and wanted to share with my child. It is so fun!

[Keli Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

cute kids book

[Rachel Burt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Animals doing ordinary things people do everyday. I liked the last page "because we wouldn't like it!" and shows a bunch of animals looking into a cage at us!

[Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as 'Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing'.

[Maggie Douglas · Rating 3 out of 5]

kids had a little trouble understanding the why.... often pictures/situations needed explaining....

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay but not great. The animals doing people things are funny and charming but the rhythm of the story just doesn't quite work.

[Charles Norris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book. It was very colorful, whether the pictures or the pages that the writing is on. I also liked how the story was written by using the same letters.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Humorous reasons why animals shouldn’t act like people: because a worm would be worn out, for example.

Good integration of story and illustrations.

[Kelly Holmes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute story for kids!