Little Skink's Tail
Janet Halfmann
Reviewed by Laura Williams
Little Skink's Tail is a delightful story of a little lizard that loses
her beautiful blue tail. Sadden by her tail-less new look, she imagines
having a tail of animals that she sees. Her imagination has her sporty
tails from a puffy tail to a pointy tail and others in between.
Your children will be mesmerized by the story as well as the beautiful
illustrations that accompany this tale of tails. My children could not
wait for story time in our house when this book arrived. I gathered
them all around in our story circle, as well call it, and read to them
the story of Little Skink's Tail.
I'm not sure they even blinked an eye as the story unfolded. I know the
story as well as the illustrations kept their interest and it helped
that we have skinks on our property.
At the end of the book, there are two activity pages to familiarize
your child with animal tracks as well as their tails. I knew my
children were really paying attention when my 3 year old could tell me
what tail belonged to which animal in the story. I can see now that I
will be making
copies of those two pages for my children to do (over and over and
over). My oldest boys have already read this book 3 or 4 times more
each since our first initial reading.
I'm not sure who loved this book more... them or I! As an added
bonus, the publisher offers online teaching links on their site for
Teaching Activities, and Learning Links.
The author, Janet Halfmann, has been writing for children for more than
twenty years, and this is her 28th book. Before becoming a full-time
freelance children’s writer, she was a manager, editor, and writer of
coloring and activity books for Golden Books; the editor of a national
children’s magazine; and a reporter for a daily newspaper. A member of
the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, Janet has
recently published Alligator at Saw Grass Road (fall 2006), Polar Bear
Horizon, Canada Goose at Cattail Lane, Dolphin's Rescue, Red Bat at
Sleepy Hollow Lane, and Pelican’s Catch. Janet was inspired to write
Little Skink’s Tail while researching for one of her other books,
Nature’s Predators: Lizards, and for an article that she wrote for
Ranger Rick, “Slinky Skinks.” Another inspiration was her
granddaughter,
whom she enjoys watching play dress-up and pretend. As Janet wrote the
book, she pictured her granddaughter putting on and showing off each
tail.