Animachines

by Debora Pearson, Nora Hilb (Illustrator)

Stretch! Fly! Dive!

What are two things that small children love? Animals and big machines, of course. In this energetic board book, the two are combined to show how the actions of seven animals mirror those of seven mighty machines.

With a single word to indicate the action, the illustrations show animals like a whale diving in the ocean while on the opposite page, a submarine does the same; a badger digs in the dirt, mimicking an excavator, and an elephant squirts water just like a pumper truck.

To add to the fun, a small elf-like creature appears on every spread, giving toddlers something else to discover.

Perfect for expanding their vocabulary or just for their amusement, this is the ideal book to share with very young children.

16 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2003

About the author

Debora Pearson is the author of several books that have received praise from Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal and Publishers Weekly. For the past decade, she has worked as a children's librarian with the Toronto Public Library, where she has met many newcomer families who are learning English for the first time. She lives in Toronto, Ontario.

Reviews

[Rebecca Reid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Animachines by Debora Pearson, illustrated by Nora Hilb (Annick Press, 2003) is a creative comparison book for very young children. On each page, there is an animal doing something as well as a vehicle of some sort acting in very much the same way.

Each two-page spread features a large single verb: fly, stretch, dig, pull. Then, one side of the page shows the animal doing that action and the other side of the page is a vehicle doing the action. The two-sentence rhymes almost rhyme: The two sentences sound great together, even though “clip-clop” and “chugs off” don’t truly rhyme.

This book would be a fun read-aloud for young children, especially those that love animals and vehicles! Even beyond such an assignment, I love that it actually is teaching the concept of metaphor. The parent reader can extend the reading simply by saying, “Can that bulldozer crawl like a sea turtle? Can you?” These concepts make Animachines not just a fun read-aloud but also an action book and a very gentle introduction to basic figurative speech concepts.

[Andréa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Note: I received a digital review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.