It would be very helpful if you mentioned the age(s) of the children for whom the books have been written.

grandparents
Seattle, WA

This book has amazing images of collage to create animals, and students love the content as well!

I bought this book for my preschool classroom. The kids can't get enough of it and they love guessing which tail belongs to which animal. It's a great early reader for them too!

A very beautifully illustrated smart book, WHAT DO YOU DO WITH A TAIL LIKE THIS helps kids think outside the box. My 3 year old daughter found it interesting the some creature have ears, mouth, etc. in other place then us humans. The book that starts with a question ends with wanting to ask more questions like the one my daughter asked, "Why do flies have 6 legs and spiders have 8?" I really couldn't answer why but I think this book helped her be more observant.

Interestingly beautiful illustrations help grab attention too, that was the reason I purchased this book in first place. The artist captures every necessary detail with his unique, almost surreal style which permeates throughout the book.

One of the loveliest and most thought out books to hit children's bookshelves in years! The information is so interesting and presented together with such unusual paper art the book just captivates its reader. Ann Clarke, author of People Are So Different! based on tolerance and understanding.

One of the loveliest and most thought out books to hit children's bookshelves in years! The information is so interesting and presented together with such unusual paper art the book just captivates its reader. People Are So Different!

This book is really hands on, and gets lots of talking and questions going with my 3 and 5 yr olds. It's a clever book and we've had a lot of fun with it.

My family loves this book! Both my sons, ages three and five, enjoy trying to guess which animal this tail, nose, foot, etc., belongs to, and then reading what the animal "does" with it. In the back of the book are more in-depth descriptions of the animals, which we also enjoyed. We ordered this book from Amazon over a year ago, and it is still a top choice when we sit down to read!

Great educational and fun book! My kids' favorite is the horned lizard shooting blood out of his eyes. Lovely collage illustrations too.

It is a good, informative book. Although my 9 years old son seems to be very old for this kind of reading, I still bought it for him because of the book's educational value. Surprise, surprise! - my Big Boy liked the book a lot(!) We now quiz each other about various animals... Another good book that I value a lot for its educational content is Why Some Cats are Rascals, Book 2 by B. Nowiki. I was afraid that in this case my son would to be a "little too little", but he is now reading it and seems to have even more fun... - lucky me, again!

Little known anatomical facts on a number of interesting animals that should entertain inquisitive youngsters.

The book combines attractive illustrations with interesting facts about different animals. As a Christmas gift for a 4 yr old, he requested that this book be reread to him numerous times during the course of Christmas day. He later walked around repeating: "What do you do with eyes like these?" as initially asked in the book. Of the approx five different answers supplied by the author, the one that he apparently found especially enticing was "The horned lizard shoots blood from his eyes."

The book combines attractive illustrations with interesting facts about different animals. As a Christmas gift for a 4 yr old, he requested that this book be reread to him numerous times during the course of Christmas day. He later walked around repeating: "What do you do with eyes like these?" as initially asked in the book. Of the approx five different answers supplied by the author, the one that he apparently found especially enticing was "The horned lizard shoots blood from his eyes."

This, simply put, is a book about tails, animal tails. I also covers ears, noses, feet and a number of other parts of the anatome of animals. The illustrations are detailed, beautiful and very, very eye catching. The text is a wealth of information, simply stated, that is very informative. The child that reads this one with an adult cannot help but learn more and more about the wonderful natural world around them. At the end of the book we have a wonderful paragraph on each of the animals covered in the book, again, wonderful information and quite well presented. The book is quite well constructed and can take quite a lot of punishment from grubby little fingers. Obviously a lot of thought and work went into this one and we should be grateful to the authors. Recommend this one highly.

This, simply put, is a book about tails, animal tails. I also covers ears, noses, feet and a number of other parts of the anatome of animals. The illustrations are detailed, beautiful and very, very eye catching. The text is a wealth of information, simply stated, that is very informative. The child that reads this one with an adult cannot help but learn more and more about the wonderful natural world around them. At the end of the book we have a wonderful paragraph on each of the animals covered in the book, again, wonderful information and quite well presented. The book is quite well constructed and can take quite a lot of punishment from grubby little fingers. Obviously a lot of thought and work went into this one and we should be grateful to the authors. Recommend this one highly.

I thought this book was great - it was really colorful. The overall feel reminded me of the book "Now I Know the Ten Commandments". I recommend it to anyone.

This book is breathtaking, a real stand-out visually -- and at the same time grippingly educational and fun for kids. If you want to see that dawning light of curiousity and hunger for understanding in a child that's just learning that it's fun to learn, there's no better book than this one.

The animals are rendered with great richness and depth by (if you look closely) beautiful torn-paper collages. It's so skillfully done by Steve Jenkins that all of the creatures are full of personality, and seem to live in a batik-cartoon world.

The riveting part is how there are so many animals that each have unusual stories revealed through fun and different and interesting body parts. This is not a "first animals" book at all. Rather it gains its fascination by showing how animals make so many different uses of their body parts, uses that go against what you first think.

For instance: A platypus uses its nose "to dig in the mud." But "[i]f you're an elephant, you use your nose to give yourself a bath" [image of trunk squirting water back over elephant's head]. For ears, you learn that a jackrabbit uses its ears to keep cool, and crickets have ears on their knees. A chimpanzee can eat with its feet, and a gecko's feet are sticky so it can walk on the ceiling. And so on.

Engrossing and whimsical from page to page again and again. Just wonderful!

At the end of the book, a section includes a one-paragraph "bio" with additional details about each animal, with the rest of the story on the unique appendage. For example, the chimpanzee has some general description, and also this detail about how they eat with their feet: "Like people, they have an opposable thumb. Unlike us, thy also have an opposable big toe. This allows them to pick up and manipulate things with their feet." This description is obviously way more advanced than the book itself -- but children love to hear more of the story about characters or animals from the adult reading to them, and this book gives you (the adult) the back story for every one of them.

I was floored when What Do You Do with a Tail Like This arrived. Giggly and awed at the same time. The reviews didn't prepare me for how much I'd viscerally like this book the moment I opened it! I cannot recommend this highly enough!

This book is breathtaking, a real stand-out visually -- and at the same time grippingly educational and fun for kids. If you want to see that dawning light of curiousity and hunger for understanding in a child that's just learning that it's fun to learn, there's no better book than this one.

The animals are rendered with great richness and depth by (if you look closely) beautiful torn-paper collages. It's so skillfully done by Steve Jenkins that all of the creatures are full of personality, and seem to live in a batik-cartoon world.

The riveting part is how there are so many animals that each have unusual stories revealed through fun and different and interesting body parts. This is not a "first animals" book at all. Rather it gains its fascination by showing how animals make so many different uses of their body parts, uses that go against what you first think.

For instance: A platypus uses its nose "to dig in the mud." But "[i]f you're an elephant, you use your nose to give yourself a bath" [image of trunk squirting water back over elephant's head]. For ears, you learn that a jackrabbit uses its ears to keep cool, and crickets have ears on their knees. A chimpanzee can eat with its feet, and a gecko's feet are sticky so it can walk on the ceiling. And so on.

Engrossing and whimsical from page to page again and again. Just wonderful!

At the end of the book, a section includes a one-paragraph "bio" with additional details about each animal, with the rest of the story on the unique appendage. For example, the chimpanzee has some general description, and also this detail about how they eat with their feet: "Like people, they have an opposable thumb. Unlike us, thy also have an opposable big toe. This allows them to pick up and manipulate things with their feet." This description is obviously way more advanced than the book itself -- but children love to hear more of the story about characters or animals from the adult reading to them, and this book gives you (the adult) the back story for every one of them.

I was floored when What Do You Do with a Tail Like This arrived. Giggly and awed at the same time. The reviews didn't prepare me for how much I'd viscerally like this book the moment I opened it! I cannot recommend this highly enough!

I have read this selection to several classrooms. The students not only love to see the pictures, but they LOVE to guess as to the purpose of the tails and it is a great lead in for adaptation. Additionally, (as all elementary students love to do), they love to share their knowledge of the animals and share what they think. After a group read, this book has become popular with students who sometimes shy away from science but just become fasicnated with the facts and cool animals.

I have read this selection to several classrooms. The students not only love to see the pictures, but they LOVE to guess as to the purpose of the tails and it is a great lead in for adaptation. Additionally, (as all elementary students love to do), they love to share their knowledge of the animals and share what they think. After a group read, this book has become popular with students who sometimes shy away from science but just become fasicnated with the facts and cool animals.

I had thought about buying this, but always decided not to. My son (5 years old) checked this out of the library on his own. He loves it. The cut-paper artwork is beautiful. Despite the fact-based discussion, it can be a very fun book to read. On the section about whales being able to hear sounds hundreds of miles away, my son always breaks into a whale song of his own. He also stunned his daycare teachers when they went on-line to check out his assertion that crickets had ears in their knees. So there you have it: fun, educational, beautiful!

It's a favorite of my 3 and 4-year old boys. Beautiful illustrations and a great guessing game with interesting facts to follow about creatures, their tails, ears, mouths and feet. I learning experience for parents too. Highly recommended!

It's a favorite of my 3 and 4-year old boys. Beautiful illustrations and a great guessing game with interesting facts to follow about creatures, their tails, ears, mouths and feet. I learning experience for parents too. Highly recommended!

Although the book was clearly new, it must have been put in the manufacturer's "reject pile" because the book sleeve was printed incorrectly - the lettering was upside down and backwards. Fortunately this book was not a gift and so I kept it anyway. Were it meant for a gift, however, I surely would have returned it.

I bought this book for my 2 and 3.5 year olds because they like anything that has to do with animals. Overall it's a great book and they love it. They both are able to guess the right animal part and it's one of the few books that they pick every night at story time. However, if I had seen this book prior to purchasing it I would have waited until my children were a little older. The book is recommended for 4-8 year olds and I would advise sticking with that age range. My 3.5 year old gets upset at the idea of the horned lizard squirting blood from his eye and the mosquito using his mouth to suck blood. Because my kids are so young I change the description for the mosquito but I can't get around the illustration of blood coming out of the horned lizard's eye.

Let's start with WOW! Both my three year old girl and five year old boy LOVED this book and participated in each page! Both were very excited (as was I) to find out who's eyes, ears, tail, etc. belonged to. At the end of the book, you'll find out EVEN more facts about the amazing creatures included in this FABULOUS childrens book! Well done!

It is a good, informative book. Although my 9 years old son seems to be very old for this kind of reading, I still bought it for him because of the book's educational value. Surprise, surprise! - my Big Boy liked the book a lot(!) We now quiz each other about various animals... Another good book that I value a lot for its educational content is "Why some cats are rascals" by B. Nowiki. I was afraid that in this case my son would to be a "little too little", but he is now reading it and seems to have even more fun... - lucky me, again!

Both of my children LOVE this book. They actually fight over it for a bed time story. My daughter, who is 7, reads it to me at night and my son, who is 5, loves to match the animals. It it a great book and I would recommend it to anyone who has children over 4 years old.

Both of my boys love this book and request it over and over again. It is such a fun book to read because the children interact with the reader by answering the questions. Love it!

and so does my 3-year-old. This is a fun and informative book suitable for various ages. Don't forget to do the Blue Footed Booby Dance (described in detail at the back)!!

My 4-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter absolutely love this book. At the same time, it's interesting and smart. My kids particularly love learning about some obscure animals with unique traits.

I have never written a review before, but thought I must write one on this book! I have recently purchased 10 books off of amazon and this one if my absolute favorite! My 4 1/2 yr. old loves it as much as I do. I read it to him in the morning and that night I layed in bed with him asking him questions about the animals in the book and the different things they could do and he got every question right. For example I asked him how many teeth an anteater has and he answered correctly, "None!" Well, I'm off to try to find another book like it!

"What Do you Do With a Tail Like This" has the dubious honor of being the only Caldecott Honor Book from 2004 that was a serious contender in the first place. Informative, lively, and easy on the eye, authors Steve Jenkins and Robin Page have created quite a nice little piece of work. For those kids interested in the wide variety of animals, this book is a humdinger. Using a unique series of collage animals, each individual creature has been painstakingly cut from beautiful handmade papers. Sometimes these creatures are done exceptionally well. The skunk resting on its front legs has a furry white stripe made from what looks to be carefully teased paper fibers. Some creatures could have used a little more work. The blood that gushes from the horned lizard's eyes looks like nothing so much as a red/orange Rorschach test. Each section shows a section of the creatures to be discussed with such leading questions as, "What do you do with eyes like these?" or "What do you do with a tail like this?". The next spread shows each animal doing its thing with interesting facts and information. For those kids who'd like to learn a little more about a particular animal, the authors have included in-depth facts at the back of the book.

It's a beautiful book. One suspects that Page & Jenkins may have even gone so far as to hand dye the papers themselves to get just the right shades. How else could they have found a blue that matches so well the blue footed booby's webbed toes or the scarlet pink of a scorpion? Perhaps most impressive in some ways are the different methods employed to fool the reader into believing they're looking at fur, when in fact the page is full of paper layered on paper. There are flaws. Oddly, every animal in this book gets a short synopsis of its abilities, with the exception of one. I don't know what the egg-eating snake did to insult the publisher, but for some reason it does not have a catchy answer to "What do you do with a mouth like this?". There are some factoids about the snake at the end of the book, but such a huge typo is bizarre, and keeps me from granting it the five Amazon.com stars it so richly deserves.

To my mind, "What Do You Do With a Tail Like This" is the most technically complex 2004 Caldecott Honor book to win the award in quite some time. Regardless of how emotionally attached you grow to the book, you cannot help but enjoy looking at the complex and well rendered animals that appear in every shape and form in these pages. This is a book that was well loved during its creation.