Common Critters: The Wildlife in Your Neighborhood

by Pat Brisson, Dan Tavis (Illustrator)

Dan Tavis’s humorous illustrations crank up the delight, and a child wanting to learn more will find it in the natural-history backmatter. Pat Brisson employs a variety of verse forms in the book, and she shows how it’s done in a back-of-book feature called “A Peek into the Poet’s Toolkit.”  

Common Critters is a three-tool STEAM book with delightful reading, natural history, and language skills rolled into one.

Genres: Poetry, Picture Books, Nature, Nonfiction, Animals, Childrens

40 pages, Hardcover

First published March 10, 2020

About the author

I have been writing picture books and easy-to-read chapter books for the last twenty years. My first YA, The Best and Hardest Thing, a novel in verse, will be coming out in May 2010.

I am a former elementary school teacher, school librarian and reference librarian in a public library. I now write full-time and do author visits to schools.

My husband and I have four grown sons. We live in Phillipsburg, New Jersey.
Our last name has a short "i" sound and rhymes with "listen".

Reviews

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful poems which teach actual facts about the 'common critters' mentioned and amusing illustrations to accompany them. I also really enjoyed the endnotes with more information about the 'critters' and the poetry insights.

[Kailey (Luminous Libro) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book introduces common animals like pigeons, squirrels, spiders, skunk, earthworms, and butterflies. The text is written in rhyme, which is constructed quite well. I really like that none of these are farm animals. So many children's books focus on farm animals instead of the type of animals that we normally see in our neighborhood or even in the city.

I am not always a fan of rhyme in children's books, but I have no cause to complain of the rhyming in this book. The meter is good, and the rhymes are good, although a little contrived at times. However, most of the poems for each animal are four stanzas long. Any child young enough to be interested in an animal book will probably not sit through four stanzas of poetry on each page. Shorter would have been better.

The illustrations are really cute! I love the watercolor and ink style and the bright colors. However, the animals have really really large eyes. It looks odd. When a bird's eyes are bigger than its wings, there is something off with the proportions. Of course, I know that in a cartoony style, the proportions are not supposed to be accurate, but I still found it weird-looking.

I'm not sure how I feel about all the violence in this book. On one page we learn about the earthworm, and on the next page the earthworm is eaten by baby robins. The earthworm is depicted as screaming while it is thrown into the nest of baby robins. Wow. That was brutal.
I know that it's important to show children what really happens in nature, but gosh. Poor Mr. Earthworm!
The page for the praying mantis is the worst. There is a decapitated fly just lying there dead! Yuck! Fly carcass! Bleh. I bet kids would love that.

I do like that there is further information about each animal in the back of the book with some interesting facts and statistics.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.

[Erin Buhr · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always think helping kids explore their area and the creatures in their own backyard is a wonderful idea, but even more so in our current situation. We have been spending an abundance of time in our backyard and walking our neighborhood. This book of sweet poems about the earthworms, birds, and bugs crawling around us is just the delight we need right now. Even though, as the note states at the end, the pictures are unrealistic depictions of the critters I adore them. I was in love with this book before I even opened it because of that adorable bird on the cover. Then at the end there is more information about the different critters and about poetry that would support a poetry unit wonderfully in a classroom. From cover to cover, this is a playful, gentle collection of poems to share with any child.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is wildlife all around you, from earthworms to birds and butterflies to skunks. You probably don't notice them because you see them every day.

Each entry has a delightful poem and the cutest illustrations. I loved the lady bug poem, with the sweet illustration of just the ladybug, and then another illustration of a lady bug fighting the aphids on a plant. The bees the slugs the birds and the spiders, oh readers are going to want to read and re-read the fun poems as they enjoy this terrific book! A must have for the elementary classroom, especially if they are studying insects or gardens.

Cross posted to https://kissthebookjr.blogspot.com/20...

[Paul Sutter]

Books for children are all about learning. That is precisely what they will do in COMMON CRITTERS. It invites them to step outdoors and see the wonders of nature in the form of every bird, insect, and animal imaginable.
The drawings are fun and the poems are filled with neat little rhymes, that children will likely want to repeat many times over. It celebrates so many aspects of wildlife, that there is so much to appreciate throughout the book.
Besides mentioning the housefly, squirrel, skunk, honeybee, mourning dove, crow, cricket, ladybug, and others, children learn more about them via a special section at the back of the book. Education should be something smaller children can relate to, and COMMON CRITTERS does this exceptionally well.

[Carol Doeringer · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my experience, little kids love books about critters, especially when the books are written in rhyme. Common Critters: The Wildlife in Your Neighborhood, is a book of poems by Pat Brisson, illustrated by Dan Tavis. Its featured creatures include lots of insects, spiders, birds, and familiar animals like skunks and squirrels. The book’s backmatter tells more about each critter. It also explains the poems’ various verse forms. I enjoyed the poems, although some of the rhyme is a little contrived. The illustrations are sometimes silly and always fun and engaging. This collection of poems is terrific for taking short reading breaks. The publisher recommends this book for kids aged 6 to 8.

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book! It's so much fun!

The book is filled with poems about common backyard creatures. Each poem tells us a little something about the creature; some of them are about basic things that some kids may already know; some include a really interesting fact, and some are silly. The book is illustrated with humorous, big-eyed representations of the critters discussed. At the back of the book are a note from the illustrator, facts about each creature, and a "Poet's Toolkit" that discusses, rhyme, meter, stanzas, and artistic license.

[raccoon reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

The illustrations are top notch in this book. LOVED them. But I actually wasn't as much of a fan of the poems. The book felt super long and maybe it's because it was late and I was tired but I'm glad this was a one read and return to the library book for my kiddo (who would rate this book 4 stars at least! He read it once on his own before asking me to read it.) Again, the illustrations make the book.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a precious poetry book about all the critters you can find in your own backyard. The poetry is fun, punny, and a pleasure to read aloud. I personally love poetry, but I have to admit that the illustrations make the book. It is an adorable picture book and a definite must-read. ^_^

[Becca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Best things: the illustrations, which are quite delightful; the facts about the creatures the poems are about included as back matter; the Poet's Toolkit was especially good. The poems themselves were okay.

[Lynn]

The poetry is bouncy and fun while providing a humorous introduction to some of the common creatures found in most backyards. Dan Tavis's watercolor illustrations stole the show for me! Big eyed and jaunty, Tavis's art makes even slugs adorable!

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This rhyming book has great information on common animals you see in your neighborhood. I like the factoids and I love the art. I don't usually like rhymes, even though they're common in children's books. But this one was great.

[C2015 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun little book. I actually learned something from it too. This comes throughout and then more information about the critters at the back. Illustrations are lovely. This one’s a good one for Arya

[L M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Affectionate and informative picture book of the common critters all around us, fascinating facts for young readers in the verses.
Backmatter of 5 pages of critter facts and then two pages about poetry

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great collection of bouncy, rhyming poems about familiar critters complemented with delightful illustrations by Dan Tavis.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Information about common critters that is told in verse.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the playful aspects of the illustrations, nice poems with good information too.

[wildct2003 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute and informative poems

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nonfiction poetry. Note: An anxious child would totally freak out about the housefly information.

[Caren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! Use for K-3 in April

[Tam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was so cute and creative. I was hesitant at first but loved it more as it went on. The poor ladybug though left with a bad wrap. Lol

[Abi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently did a storytime with the theme wildlife, and I really wanted to do a book that featured local wildlife. In my search, one of the first books I came across was Common Critters. Now you might not think that a book of poems works for a storytime, and, traditionally, you’d probably be right. But these poems are so short and sweet, and the illustrations pair so well to liven them up, that I knew I had to use it. (It did take some creative thinking in how I would make it work in my program, but if you want to know more about that, you can read about it on the post about that storytime on my other blog.) ... Read the full review here