Gulp, Gobble

by Marilyn Singer, Kathryn Durst (Illustrations)

Come see animals of all different kinds enjoy a picnic. See how a frog “gulps,” a shark “gobbles,” a chicken “pecks,” and more. And don’t miss the fun surprise at the end!

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Childrens, Food

32 pages, Paperback

Published September 24, 2019

About the author

Marilyn Singer was born in the Bronx (New York City) on October 3, 1948 and lived most of her early life in N. Massapequa (Long Island), NY. She attended Queens College, City University of New York, and for her junior year, Reading University, England. She holds a B.A. in English from Queens and an M.A. in Communications from New York University.

In 1974, after teaching English in New York City high schools for several years, she began to write - initially film notes, catalogues, teacher's guides and film strips. Then, one day, when she was sitting in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, she penned a story featuring talking insect characters she'd made up when she was eight. Encouraged by the responses she got, she wrote more stories and in 1976 her first book, The Dog Who Insisted He Wasn't, was published by E.P.Dutton & Co.

Since then, Marilyn has published over seventy books for children and young adults. Her genres are many and varied, including realistic novels, fantasies, non-fiction, fairy tales, picture books, mysteries and poetry. She likes writing many different kinds of books because it's challenging and it keeps her from getting bored. She has won several Children's Choice and Parents' Choice Awards, as well as the following: the Creature Carnival, Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award Honor Book, 2005; I Believe in Water: Twelve Brushes with Religion, New York Public Library's "Best Books for the Teen Age," 2001; Stay True: Short Stories for Strong Girls, Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults, 2000 (YALSA); On the Same Day in March, Booklist's Top Ten Science Books of 2000; NCSS-CBC Notable Book, 2000; Deal with a Ghost, finalist, YA category, Edgar Award, 1998; It Can't Hurt Forever, Maud Hart Lovelace Award, 1983; The Course of True Love Never Did Run Smooth, ALA Best Book for Young Adults, 1983; Turtle in July, NCTE Notable, N.Y.Times Best Illustrated and Time Magazine Best Children's Books of 1989; Turtle in July was also a Reading Rainbow review book.

Marilyn currently lives in Brooklyn, NY, with her husband Steve; their standard poodle Oggi, a cousin of their beloved and recently departed poodle Easy, seen in the home page photo; a cat named August ; two collared doves named Jubilee and Holiday; and a starling named Darling. Her interests include dog training, reading, hiking, bird-watching, gardening, meditation, playing computer adventure games and going to the movies and the theatre. She's also a major Star Trek fan.

Reviews

[Jessica Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

good for kids learning to read, and a very fast read.

[Becky B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Watch animals devour their food in consonance pairs.

I saw a blurb of this book saying it rhymes, but that isn't true. This book doesn't rhyme, it uses consonance, so two words that appear on pages opposite each other will start with the same consonant sound, like peck and pick, gnaw and nibble. There are very few words in the book, and there's a pronunciation guide in the front to help beginning readers or English language learners. The illustrations are fun and add humor to the book. And the final spread presents a rather incredible situation that kids can debate about whether they'd want to experience or not. A fun, quick leveled reader for animal lovers.

[Erin Buhr · Rating 4 out of 5]

24 words. That’s all Singer used to tell this fun, rhyming, animal filled story. At the front of the book there is a list of the words with their pronunciations - most of which can be sounded out with a basic knowledge of phonics. I love all of the warm, cheerful illustrations - especially the big picnic scenes. I love that although this is an easy reader with exceptionally few words, it also challenges readers to sound out less familiar words. Such a cute, original easy reader book.

[McKyah Graybill]

Gulp, Gobble is a delightful exploration of animals and how they eat, brought to life by Marilyn Singer’s engaging rhymes and Kathryn Durst’s playful illustrations. The book blends humor with fascinating facts, making it both educational and entertaining for young readers. With its lively language and colorful artwork, this charming read introduces the wonders of the animal kingdom in an irresistibly fun way.

[Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

My son loves Marilyn Singer’s books because he’ll repeat the words on the page after I’ve read them and will begin to associate the pictures with those words after a few rounds of reading it. The first book of Singer’s that we read together, he told me, “me read it!” And flipped the book open and began to read the book himself, using the visuals to remember what word was for that page. He didn’t remember all of them but it was a start.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Animals chow down in full-page color illustration, using different vocab for each eating word. The last page reveals them to all be on a picnic together with human kids. Cute, simple, with lots of good vocabulary.

[Kelly]

Fun book with diverse characters and good for a "what do animals do" storytime - every page is a different verb of an animal doing something.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little too easy for step one

[Nicki · Rating 2 out of 5]

A preschooler would not be able to read most of these words. (gnaw, forage, guzzle, harvest, browse)

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun synonyms to "eat."

[Villain E · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mostly onomatopoeia. One word (or less) per page. Too simple for an early reader. It's more like a book for toddlers. The art is pretty good.

[Nikki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good concept, but the coloring of the pictures seems overly-saturated for the page size of an easy reader, almost like they had been printed on a crappy color printer.

[Gauri Bodke]

Nice vocabulary builder and learning about animals

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

More extensive vocabulary than I was expecting...nice surprise.