In North America, pound for pound, a Wolverine is considered to be the toughest animal. In Australia, a Tasmanian Devil is considered to be the toughest mammal. Oops we have a jealous Honey Badger intruding into the book. Africans consider the Honey Badger to be the toughest animal. What will happen?
My full name is Gerard Larry Pallotta but my mom always called me "Jerry". I was born on March 26, 1953 in Boston, Massachusetts. My mom's name is Mary, and she came from a family of ten children. My dad's name is Joe, and he came from a family of five children. My grandparents were immigrants of Italian descent. I have the nicest parents in the world. They have always been unselfish and ready to help me, even today. I have four brothers and two sisters: Joey, David, Andrew, Danny, Cindy and Mickey. I have seventy-two first cousins. When I was growing up, there were...KIDS EVERYWHERE!
My family moved to Medford, Massachusetts when I was young. I went to elementary school at Mt. Trinity Academy, not far from where my publisher is located in Watertown, Massachusetts. I never wrote a book in elementary school, and we never kept journals. In the neighborhood where I grew up, almost every family had seven to nine children. I guess that you could say that there were...KIDS EVERYWHERE!
I went to high school at Boston College High School, a Jesuit all-boys school in downtown Boston. The priests and other teachers were really wonderful. I played football and ran track. I had a great high school experience and I think later it made my studies in college much easier. My sons Neil and Eric graduated from Boston College High School in 2001 and 2003. Neil was named after a teacher I had, Fr. Neil Callahan, S.J. I never wrote a book in high school, and I never wrote for the school newspaper. I was too shy and was afraid of what other kids would think.
After high school I went to Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. I majored in business, a subject that would help me later in life when I decided to publish my first book. At Georgetown, I met my wife, Linda. In college I was an average student and was captain of the Georgetown University Rugby Team. I never wrote for the college newspaper, and I never imaged writing books. A couple of years later, Linda and I got married and I started to work at an insurance company in Boston. During the first six years of being married, we had four kids. It seemed like there were...KIDS EVERYWHERE!
Today, we spend a lot of time with my 31 nieces and nephews...again...KIDS EVERYWHERE!
I learned valuable skills while talking to people, selling insurance and collecting money. When I came home from work, Linda would ask me to "read to the kids!" I loved reading to my kids and I learned to appreciate children's books. The first few books that we bought were alphabet books and counting books. "A" was always for Apple and "Z" was always for Zebra. One day I decided, "Hey, I can do this!" I had an idea. I would write an alphabet book about the Atlantic Ocean. I spent every summer at Peggotty Beach in Scituate, Massachusetts. I have great memories of lobstering, fishing, mossing, clamming and rowing in my dory.
My first book was written in 1985 when I was 32 years old. I came up with the idea, wrote it, designed it, researched it, edited it and my cousin, Frank Mazzola, Jr. illustrated it. I published it myself under the name of Peggotty Beach Books. What fun! It was first printed on July 7, 1986. I'll never forget that day. The book eventually became the #1 best selling book at the New England Aquarium. I was afraid that only my mother would like it. Teachers and kids told me they really liked my book.
While speaking in schools, teachers also told me they were looking for simple non-fiction nature books. It gave me the confidence to write more. My next book, "The Icky Bug Alphabet Book", has sold more than 1 million copies. My third book, "The Bird Alphabet Book" was voted one of the best books of the year by Birders World Magazine. I now have over twenty alphabet books. My goal has always been to write interesting, fact-filled, fun to read, beautifully illustrated color children's books. Thank you to all my illustrators: Ralph Masiello, Frank Mazzola, Jr., Rob Bolster, Edgar Stewart, Leslie
The only thing missing from this was the fact that the tasmanian devil can talk, and moves like a tornado. Mr. Pallota has obviously not seen any animated Warner Brothers tv shows.
I loved the series, my lizard loves it to. But when I read it. All i see is a wolverine from north america and a Tasmanian devil from Tasmania it was weird and i would give it 4 stars.
Another great showdown betweentwo animals that I would want nothing to do with. My kids adore these books and we are starting to run out of them at this point.
Miles checked this out of the library from school. I wasn't sure what it was but I was worth a shot to read it with him. I am trying to do more one on one time reading books with a kiddo and talking about life, but also practicing our reading skills. "Wolverine vs. Tasmanian Devil" by Jerry Pallotta is apart of the Who Would Win? series. In this book it is a non-fiction book but has a sense of a fiction story. It's where they take facts from each animal and put it up against the other animal. It's full of fun neat facts about each one.
Miles really enjoyed this story and all the neat facts about them. He thought it was interesting that they both had nicknames and looking at the maps of where they each live. I really like this book as it had the feel of a fiction book but it was non-fiction. It was teaching my son about these two animals that he perhaps won't see every day. This book is really awesome and it really shows a lot of vocabulary words so lots of practicing reading big words.
This very popular series has stolen the hearts of my students in my elementary school buildings. It is asked for again and again for book check out time and even to be discussed in classes. Jerry Pallotta seems to be the inside scoop on what interests children as his alphabet books still fly off the shelves, too!
I loved reading this book and learning about two animals that students may not know about. I also love these books because they have a lot of different nonfiction text features that are important for students to be able to identify within the text as well as help make the story easier to read. I would use these books in the classroom library as independent readers or as an interactive read-aloud to talk about nonfiction text features.
This is about my 7th of these books. They are growing on me. I think they are really random. It doesn’t bother me anymore that the two animals would never really meet up; however, they could have used an accurate possum for Australia instead of using the North American o’possum.
It was fun learning facts about the wolverine, Tasmanian Devil, and even a little about the Honey Badger. My son and I place a bet at the beginning of the book to see which animal will win. I won this time.
The “Who Would Won?” series evaluates the attributes of two animals and the predicts which would win in a fight. This one pits a Wolverine against a Tasmanian devil. A fun series that teaches science.
This is an interesting non-fiction early reader, for kids who are interested in animals. I liked learning about wolverines and tasmanian devils and was very impressed by how much their skulls resemble each other's even though these two animals developed on opposite sides of the world.
A good book and lots of facts I love these book!!! I like them because I like animals my favorite part was when they where fighting!!! I think the tasmanian devil should of won
What a fun way for kids to learn about specific, similar animals on completely different continents, and speculate about which would come out on top. Love the idea for a book series.
Contains a lot of true facts and knowledge. It’s nonfiction, but presented in a fun and engaging way for students. Teaches about both animals, doesn’t just compare. It could lead to some fun classroom discussions. Grades: 3-5
My son (7) read this book to me. He really enjoyed it and after reading it drew pictures of the Wolverine, Tasmanian Devil, Hone Badger, and Black Mambo. He was so inspired by the book that he wrote he own story about the animals after reading the book.