What Do You Do When Something Wants To Eat You?

What Do You Do When Something Wants To Eat You?

Written and Illustrated by Steve Jenkins

Accessed October 30th, 2013 

http://www.betterworldbooks.com/what-do-you-do-when-something-wants-to-eat-you-id-0618152431.aspx

Summary

What Do You Do When Something Wants To Eat You? is a delightful concept book that illustrates some of the more unusual ways animals and insects escape being eaten.

Critical Analysis

            Steve Jenkins straightforward book What Do You Do When Something Wants To Eat You? provides straightforward factual statements coupled with delightful illustration informing readers of the lengths insects and animals will go to in order to live another day. What Do You Do When Something Wants To Eat You? does not provide an index, bibliography or any other reference information, rather the reader relies on the credibility of Jenkins himself. Jenkins has written, co-written and illustrated 30 books – most of them nonfiction. According to his website (accessed October 30^th, 2013) Jenkins had grown up with a passion for science that was learned from his physicist father (who co-authored one of his books). While many of the defense mechanisms provided by Jenkins are considered common knowledge (puffer fish do inflate themselves when they encounter danger – common knowledge) other facts are coupled with specific information - flying fish can glide “as far as a thousand feet” (Jenkins, pg. 17, 1997) and the reader would benefit from references that prove Jenkins’ statements. Despite the lack of sources sited Steve Jenkins has been the recipient of the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Award, Colorado Children’s Book Award, the Booklist Editor’s Choice Award, NY Public Library Notable Author, Caldacott Honor Recipient and one of the School Library Journal 100 Titles for Reading Award. Jenkins’ books are also published by the renowned Houghton Mifflin Publishing Company, which publishes a large number of children’s nonfiction titles adding credibility to Jenkins’ statements.

            The organization of What Do You Do When Something Wants To Eat You? is a straightforward list of defense mechanisms that is sure to delight and amaze young readers and the mix between insects and animals provides enchanting variety. The book itself is colorful, attractive and the layout of the creatures and their defense mechanisms provides both tension and relief as the reader witnesses the peril and escape of the amazing creatures within the books pages.

            With sparse text it is the illustrations that are truly the highlight of What Do You Do When Something Wants To Eat You?. Jenkins’ highly detailed, highly accurate collage styled illustrations draw the reader into the book and provide a realistic look at the unique and often strange ways that prey has developed to outmaneuver predators. The color and texture of Jenkins’ illustrations makes re-reading this title a must.

Awards

1998 Outstanding Science Trade Book

Booklist Editor’s Choice, 1998

The Best Children’s Book of the Year, 1998

Bank Street College of Education’s Editor’s Choice Award, 1997

Reviews

Publishers Weekly (11/10/1997):
In this absorbing tribute to nature's genius, cut-paper collages illustrate the built-in defenses of animals and insects. Using collage to represent a diverse range of critters from the leathery lizard to the airy silkmoth, Jenkins (Big and Little) artfully matches handmade papers to fur, feathers, scales and skin. The artistic diversity is surpassed only by the animals' modes of escape--such as camouflage (a harmless hoverfly takes on a wasp's appearance), surprise (a skink flashes its bright blue tongue and wags it side to side), chemical warfare (a bombardier beetle shoots poison out of its rear end) and even levitation (a basilisk lizard runs on water). Although the forthright text lacks the dexterity of the collages, the high interest of the subject matter is sure to delight readers--and may prompt them to discover more about the intelligence, humor, eccentricity and stamina to be found in nature. This is the kind of book that awakens the scientist in young readers. Ages 4-8.

School Library Journal (11/01/1997):
Gr 3-5--Jenkins answers the question of what different creatures do when another wants them for dinner. He identifies the animal on one page ("the bombardier beetle defends itself...") and then follows up with its defense mechanism on the next ("by shooting a mixture of hot chemicals from its rear end and into the face of an attacker"). The artist's trademark cut-paper collages on textured backgrounds show both attacker and potential prey on one page, and then a close-up of the animal escaping on the next. Defenses include mimicry, camouflage, and speed as well as specific responses such as the ink that octopuses use or the puffer fish's ability to expand itself. The final page invites readers to imagine, "What would you do if something wanted to eat you?" Useful for teachers introducing animal defenses and the terms that go along with the subject and a great choice for a storytime.

Booklist (12/01/1997):
/*Starred Review*/ Ages 4-8. Fourteen different animals escape their predators in this thrilling, beautiful science book illustrated with Jenkins' dramatic cut-paper collages. On each right-hand page, there is a tense, close-up confrontation between an animal and its attacker: turn the page, and the prey has tricked the predator with camouflage and other self-defense tactics. The first example is an octopus, but most of the creatures will be new to children, from the hover fly (which mimics the appearance of a wasp) and the hog-nosed snake (which plays dead) to the South American basilisk "Jesus Christ" lizard (which uses its large feet and great speed to run across the surface of water). There is less text here than in some of Jenkins' other books, and children will want to find out more about the particular animals and their behaviors and habitats. The collages are clear and uncluttered; each brilliantly colored picture draws your eye to the dangerous standoff. The scenes vary from the deep blue of the ocean depths to the grainy brown of a tree trunk, and set against these backgrounds are dramatic details of the transformation that allows the animal to survive. The final question--which is also the title of the book--makes clear why these zoological facts have the mythic power to scare us and connect us with the natural world. Even as kids shudder at the bared teeth of the predator, they will identify with the trickster who gets away.

Connections

Unusual Creatures: A Mostly Accurate Account of Some of Earth's Strangest Animals by Michael Hearst is a humorous fact based book that informs readers of some of the strangest creatures in existence. Taking What Do You Do When Something Wants To Eat You? a step further, older children will surely enjoy an expanded list of defense mechanisms that provides lengthier textual descriptions of some of the strangest animal behaviors out there.

References

Booklist 12/01/1997 pg. 633 (EAN 9780395825143, Library Binding) - *Starred Review

Hearst, Michael. 2012. Unusual Creatures: A Mostly Accurate Account of Some of Earth's Strangest Animals. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books. ISBN 9781452104676

Jenkins, Steve. 1997. What Do You Do When Something Wants To Eat You?. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 0547416970

Publishers Weekly 11/10/1997 pg. 73 (EAN 9780395825143, Library Binding)

School Library Journal 11/01/1997 pg. 109 (EAN 9780395825143, Library Binding)