Snails Are Just My Speed!: TOON Level 1

by Kevin McCloskey

Overview

What’s the scoop behind all the mucus?

Did you know snails build roads like engineers and go undercover in camouflage like top secret spies? Did you know they can be smaller than a seed or bigger than a grown-up’s hand? Cartoonist Kevin McCloskey is back with his trademark mixture of real-life science, lovely art, and infectious hilarity for the slimiest book in his acclaimed Giggle and Learn series, praised by the New York Times as “a winning combination of facts and gross-out fun.”

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781943145270
Publisher:	Astra Publishing House
Publication date:	05/01/2018
Series:	Giggle and Learn
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	341,654
Product dimensions:	9.00(w) x 6.10(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	5 - 6 Years

About the Author

Kevin McCloskey is the author of the critically acclaimed TOON Books Giggle and Learn series and an illustration professor at Pennsylvania's Kutztown University. After writing this book, Kevin is practically a snail expert, but he can't tell us whether the snails served in restaurants are tasty – he's never eaten one. What's the closest he's come to trying snails? Kevin says, "Sometimes, when I cook artichokes, I put a clove of garlic in the leaves. Then when they're cooked, I forget I put the garlic in and I think there's a slug in my food."

Interviews

Finalist for 2019 Excellence In Graphic Literature Award, Best in Children's Graphic Literature (Nonfiction)!

Editorial Reviews

05/14/2018
The fourth title in McCloskey’s Giggle and Learn series of leveled reader comics celebrates the notoriously poky mollusk. In distinctively quirky graphics, McCloskey shows snails ambling along on mucus trails and handily communicating via dialogue balloons. Three children learn about snails with readers, expressing enthusiasm and occasional revulsion in response. “Snails make a lot of mucus. With mucus, they can travel on any surface,” McCloskey writes. A chestnut-colored snail flagrantly demonstrates this point: “I can climb over a knife and not get hurt!” Readers will also learn that “every snail is both male and female” and “a snail’s eyes are weak, but it uses its lower tentacles to feel and smell.” McCloskey’s series continues to deliver an offbeat blend of science, humor, and a dynamic interplay between words and pictures. Ages 4–8. (May)

Publishers Weekly

★ 05/01/2018
K-Gr 1—With hip and fun graphics, just enough "ick" factor, and plenty of facts, this title offers beginning readers a great deal of information about snails and slugs. McCloskey opens with a familiar idea—snails are slow—but springboards from that to unexpected tidbits such as how fast or slow snails move compared to other animals, why a lack of speed can be an advantage, and lots and lots about mucus. The author/illustrator quickly touches upon reproduction ("Snails shoot arrows at each other before they make babies") and even finds space to look at the creatures as favorites in the drawing habits of monks of old—a segue into a spread devoted to how to draw a snail. VERDICT What a delight! Kindergartners will need some help with this one but will enjoy it, while first graders will savor the grossness on their own.—Henrietta Verma, Credo Reference, Jackson Heights, NY

School Library Journal

2018-02-19
Young naturalists will love McCloskey's look at snails.In a manner most unsnaillike, McClokey zooms from fact to fact as he informs and entertains readers with information about these surprisingly interesting gastropods. The pacing never feels rushed, however, as the facts transition as smoothly as if on a "road of slimy mucus." Readers will learn how slowly snails move as compared to other creatures, the advantages of moving slowly, and how they influence the journeys of other snails (spoiler alert: Mucus just may be involved). Fans of The Real Poop on Pigeons (2016) and We Dig Worms (2015) will get a kick out of this latest installment in the fact-based early graphic novel series. The information is paired with colorful cartoon illustrations that toe the line between caricature and surrealism. While the snails are the book's stars, they are observed by a group of racially diverse children. Savvy educators will appreciate the book's versatility: It would be the star of an intimate gross-book-themed storytime (due to its relatively small size) or may be used as the inspiration for a pre-K lesson plan on anything from wildlife and nature to gardening to body fluids.Overall, a fun read and a smart selection for any elementary nature shelf. (Graphic informational early reader. 6-8)

Kirkus Reviews

School Library Journal Top 10 Graphic Novels of 2018
Finalist for Pop Culture Classroom 2019 Excellence In Graphic Literature Award, Best in Children's Graphic Literature (Nonfiction)!
The BUILDING STEAM WITH DIA 2019 Booklist (ALSC), K-Grade 2
Association for Library Service to Children GRAPHIC NOVELS READING LIST (Grades K-2) 2019 
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

★ "With hip and fun graphics, just enough 'ick' factor, and plenty of facts, this title offers beginning readers a great deal of information about snails and slugs...What a delight!" —School Library Journal STARRED REVIEW

"McCloskey’s series continues to deliver an offbeat blend of science, humor, and a dynamic interplay between words and pictures."—Publishers Weekly

"Savvy educators will appreciate the book's versatility: It would be the star of an intimate gross-book-themed storytime...or may be used as the inspiration for a pre-K lesson plan on anything from wildlife and nature to gardening to body fluids. Overall, a fun read and a smart selection for any elementary nature shelf."—Kirkus Reviews

"As slugs with shells, snails perhaps lack charm. One look at McCloskey’s affectionate portrayal quickly changes minds...This will be a particular joy for the science-minded, but between spotting the snails hidden among rocks and taking a cue from the drawing lesson in back, there’s plenty of fun here for casual readers, too."—Booklist

"Fascinating...facts are shared about how snails move (slowly); the variety of snail species, sizes, and habitats; and even snail courtship rituals."-Horn Book Magazine

"In this fourth installment of TOON Books’ early reader science series, Kevin McCloskey once again creates an engaging work of nonfiction that will have kids screaming, 'Gross!' and, like the series title says, 'Laugh and Learn."—School Library Journal's Good Comics for Kids

"I never expected to be interested in snails (and their cousin slugs) but McCloskey makes any animal interesting. His books are light reads that inspire learning."—Comics Worth Reading

"There’s a quick drawing lesson at the end – great way to end a storytime or science group session! Kevin McCloskey is aces in my book!"—Mom Read It

"Kevin McCloskey introduces us to a whole load of fascinating snail facts that are sure to entertain curious readers, no matter how old they are."—Orbital Comics

"By the time you turn the last page of Snails are Just My Speed!, you'll be reminding yourself that this book is a beginning reader."—Books4YourKids

From the Publisher