NONFICTION

Eek, You Reek!: Poems About Animals That Stink, Stank, Stunk

by Jane Yolen with Heidi E.Y Stemple (text) & illus. by Eugenia Nobati
Lerner. Oct. 2019. 32p. further reading. glossary. Tr $19.99. ISBN 9781512482010.
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Gr 2-5–With the exception of the opening and closing poems that address all of the stinky animals, each poem focuses on one animal that has a smelly trait or preys on a smelly animal. Tackling everything from well-known skunks and ferrets to the lesser-known hoatzin and tamandua, the poems address how the animal uses their smell to deter predators, protect their food or territory, or attract mates. Illustrations are a combination of pencil drawings with texture and digital painting, and they give a playful tone to the poems by showing odor clouds wafting from the offending animals. Authors include reasons the animals have a stench as well as information about each animal covered in the poems.
VERDICT Highly recommended for school and public libraries. Both educational and hilarious, this fun book of poetry written by Yolen and Stemple will not only please language arts teachers but will appease science teachers.
Reviewed by Lia Carruthers, Gill St. Bernard’s School, Gladstone, NJ , Oct 18, 2019

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