"Slowly, Slowly, Slowly," said the Sloth

by Eric Carle

Slowly, slowly, slowly. That's the way the sloth moves. Slowly, it eats and then, slowly, it falls asleep.

"What strange kind of creature is this?" the other animals wonder, "Why doesn't it run or fly or play or hunt like the rest of us?"
"Why are you so slow??" the howler monkey inquires.
But the sloth doesn't answer any questions until the jaguar asks, "Why are you so lazy??"

Anyone who has ever felt too busy will appreciate the sloth's peaceful lifestyle and realize that it's okay to take time to enjoy life.

Eric Carle's dazzling collage illustrations introduce readers to the exotic beauty of the Amazon rain forest and the many unusual animals living there.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Animals, Storytime, Fiction, Nature, Juvenile

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Eric Carle was an American author, designer and illustrator of children's books. His picture book The Very Hungry Caterpillar, first published in 1969, has been translated into more than 66 languages and sold more than 50 million copies. Carle's career as an illustrator and children's book author accelerated after he collaborated on Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?. Carle illustrated more than 70 books, most of which he also wrote, and more than 145 million copies of his books have been sold around the world.
In 2003, the American Library Association awarded Carle the biennial Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal (now called the Children's Literature Legacy Award), a prize for writers or illustrators of children's books published in the U.S. who have made lasting contributions to the field. Carle was also a U.S. nominee for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2010.

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

An Eric Carle book I like (other than the Very Hungry Caterpillar)?



Yeah, I'm pretty surprised too. This one is actually a fairly pleasant story, in which a sloth moves, well, very slowly. Other animals question it, call it lazy and generally don't understand why the sloth behaves in such a fashion. It has a response… but they'll have to wait for it to finish in its own time.

I'm still not a fan of Carle's art, but the story itself works for me and it gets major points for using the word "lackadaisical" in a children's book. My daughter also likes this one, which given our less than stellar track record with Carle is also impressive. 3/5 stars.

[Hilary · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sloth hangs from a tree and does everything slowly. Animals pass by and wonder why he is so slow, that's just the way he is! A nice story about how everyone is different and that's okay!

Read on open library.

[L.E. Fidler · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book drops the word "lackadaisical"

'nough said.

[Canette Arille · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like Eric Carle's children's books, but this one is a bit annoying. The Sloth is very slow, and does not respond to anyone. Various animals come to him, and children can remember them. Overall, I think the book teaches children the names of animals, and patience while reading it. However, it is definitely too slow for me :-D

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh! From the forward by Jane Goodall to the endpapers that identify all the critters that shared the sloth's habitat, this is a wonderful book. Of course there are great illustrations. And Carle's signature style of what I think of as 'call, call, call, response' is put to great use to share a perfect message.

Animals are who they are. Sloths are not lazy, owls are not wise, wolves are not wicked.

And most kids would be better off if left, pretty much, to be who they are, too.

I wish this had been published when my boys were little. We'd probably have bought a copy of our own. We did have a copy of Hungry Caterpillar that we read to pieces.

[Les Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An unusual yet enjoyable family read.

[Jan]

Love the artwork and all the animals. Also the use of Lackadaisical in a kids book.

[Mckenna Crews · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute masterpiece that we aren’t talking about enough. Period.

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 4 out of 5]

The strange slow creatures of the rainforest have in recent years become cute characters for children. There's Snook from It's a Big, Big, World on PBS and the title character of Eric Carle's "Slowly, Slowly, Slowly," said the Sloth.

Eric Carle's book has a foreword by Jane Goodall. In it she talks about her love for the unusual creatures and gives some basic facts about them. There are two species: two-toed and three-toed. They can rotate their heads 270° degrees. They sleep between fifteen and nineteen hours a day. They are threatened now by deforestation and Goodall is hoping Carle's book will help teach future generations to appreciate the sloth and all the rainforest enough to want to protect it.

"Slowly, Slowly, Slowly" said the Sloth has three parts to the story: the day in the life of a sloth, questions for the sloth from other rainforest animals and finally the sloth's answer. In the first part each page begins: "slowly, slowly, slowly." These slow pages are my favorite part of the story. It's restful and soothing while teaching about the sloth and the rainforest.

The second part reads more like Carle's The Very Busy Spider with the same sort of question being asked again and again. The questions all play on the double meaning of sloth. The animals of the forest ask him why he's so slow, so quiet, so boring and so lazy.

The book gets back on track by the final part when the sloth wakes and answers all those questions. He gives a soliloquy on the virtues of being a sloth. After a using a long list of adjectives to describe himself, he ends his speech with: "That's just how I am. I like to do things slowly, slowly, slowly."

As a sort of visual epilogue, Eric Carle includes a two page spread of all the animals who appear in the book. Each one is labeled. Both my kids love looking at the animals on these pages. Sometimes we go back and play find the animal in the story and sometimes we just talk about them.

[nazanin · Rating 3 out of 5]

این داستان مصور کیوت زیبا یه میان‌وعده خوش‌رنگه که ردی از عزت‌نفس داره، حیوونای مختلف هر کدوم یه برچسبی به این موجود نازنین میزنن ولی اون خیلی در آرامش کامل طبیعت خودشو توصیف میکنه. تو فارسی هم ما با یه لیبلی صداشون می‌کنیم به اسم تنبل‌ها.! میتونید از این چنل تلگرم ورق بزنید. 🍰☕️
https://t.me/nazaninketab

[Cosette · Rating 5 out of 5]

I may need to read this again. Every night. Effective results.

[Shawn Deal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here is a story about a the slow and steady sloth. He is misunderstood by his fellow animals and goes on to explain himself. There is a good lesson here for kids who can understand it.

[Rachel Pinkney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bit of an Eric Carl’s fest today.

[Leah Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am using this as part of a sequence of lessons on writing non-chronological reports. After reading the text as a class, the children rewrite the text and add facts about sloths that they have found from their own research using non-fiction books and websites.

[Sophia Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Taking your time and having patience does not mean you are slow. But I prefer fast so 4/5

-Sophie

[Dianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

The sloth moves slowly and hangs from his tree and sleeps all day. The other animals ask him why he's so slow, lazy, boring, etc., and he finally gets a chance to explain on the last page. I think this is a great book to help kids see that everyone's different and that's okay.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Because, sloths.

[Isobel · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Slowly slowly” said the sloth is a simple book but it is a good book for children because it is repetitive and it uses speech.

The illustrations in the book are beautiful, detailed, colourful and textured. Some of the illustrations look like a collage because of the illustrations are tightly paced together.

The book would be good for teaching children geography because the teacher could use the book to teach the children about the Amazon rainforest, the children could realise from the book what animals and plant life there is in the rainforest.

[Sue Read · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first four pages of this book start with the words 'slowly, slowly, slowly...', by which time both the reader and the listener have slowed down! This is a good thing as there are colourful double pages to enjoy and linger over, animals to discuss and find out about and a glorious reply from the sloth to decipher. It is full of interesting vocabulary, the sort that comes to mind when you do, indeed, have plenty of time!

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although I know many books by Eric Carle, I missed this one about a favorite animal, that sloth, one that I was able to watch in a tree in Costa Rica, and touch in an amazing experience at my zoo. It's fun to see what is donated to the used bookstore where I volunteer, a non-profit for our community, run entirely by volunteers. This is one I'm glad to have and share.

[Cassandra Elise · Rating 4 out of 5]

My husband apparently hates sloths. Every time we read this to our son, he adds that the jaguar eats the sloth, who was too slow to get away. I happen to like the build up, where everyone asks the sloth a question, but he's sooooo sloooow that it takes him to the very end to reply, at which point he goes on a very lengthy monologue!

[Marco Antonio · Rating 2 out of 5]

The flow wasn't conducive to an argument or a child's attention span. The message is consistent with sloth philosophy though.

[Marianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptionally beautiful. And it was a lot of fun to read aloud in my slow sloth voice. Very soothing.

[Beverlee Jobrack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great introduction to sloths and rainforest creatures.

[Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anyone who's ever read The Very Hungry Caterpillar will recognise the illustrations in Slowly. There's something really quite lovely about them. The story is repetitive (the sloth hangs all day and he hangs all night and each animal asks him why) which, while dull as an adult, actually suits the young child that the book is aimed at. The overall message of the book is rather nice - it appeals to that call for a better, calmer and more zen life. The sloth says:

"It is true that I am slow, quiet
And boring. I am lackadaisical,
I dawdle and I dillydally.
I am also unflappable, languid,
stoic, impassive, sluggish,
lethargic, placid, calm, mellow,
Laid-back and, well, slothful!
I am relaxed and tranquil,
And I like to live in peace.
But I am not lazy.”
Then the sloth yawned and said,
“That’s just how I am.
I like to do things
Slowly,
slowly,
slowly."

Who needs to be energetic when they can use some fabulous adjectives instead?

[Tania Degale · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Slowly, slowly, slowly", Said The Sloth, is a lovely story about a sloth in the Amazon. This book introduces children to unfamiliar exotic animals that they may not have encountered yet. As the Sloth goes on his journey through the Amazon, the other animals ask him questions like "why are you so slow?", "why are you so lazy?". This book gives you the opportunity to teach young children about asking questions. There is also a lot of repetition in this book which helps children to remember and recognise familiar words. The illustrations are bright and colourful and all the animals are labelled at the back of the book, so that children can get familiar with new exotic animals.

I would recommend this book for EYFS, but did read this book with a year 4 Autistic child who was a developing reader. He really enjoyed the repetition and being able to recognise phrases and whole sentences.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

We liked the bright colors and seeing different kinds of animals on each page. At the end of the book is a two-page spread with the names of all the animals we see in the story. We were inspired to do further research on the creatures of the Amazon rain forest! There were many that we recognized and several that were new to us. The forward About the Sloth by Jane Goodall was very informative.

[Meghan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite sloth book, but used it as emergency back up when my sloth themed storytime had a younger group than I expected. Was fairly well received, and of course, the illustrations were beautiful! Eric Carle saved the day!

[Anica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reminds us to make life just a little bit slower.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sloth does things at his own pace...slowly. Cute book.