Yaks Yak: Animal Word Pairs

by Linda Sue Park, Jennifer Black Reinhardt (Illustrator)

Overview

As yaks yak to one another and ducks duck rams who ram, Newbery Medalist Linda Sue Park presents a sprightly and comic introduction to a fun form of wordplay, homographs, as engaging animal characters enact verbs made from their names. “Young readers will love this hilarious, informative book.”—Booklist

At once funny and informative, Yaks Yak presents animals acting out the verbs made from their names. Illustrations rich in comic details show hogs hogging, slugs slugging, and other spirited creatures demonstrating homographs, words with different meanings that are spelled and pronounced the same. A chart listing the words, their meanings, and their history is included. Ideal for sharing, this book offers a delightful introduction to a fun form of wordplay.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780063484498
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	01/13/2026
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	10.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Linda Sue Park, Newbery Medal winner for A Single Shard and #1 New York Times bestseller for A Long Walk to Water, is the renowned author of picture books and novels for young readers. She lives in Western New York. Learn more at lindasuepark.com.

Jennifer Black Reinhardt has illustrated many acclaimed picture books, including Yaks Yak and Gondra's Treasure, by Linda Sue Park, and Sometimes You Fly, by Katherine Applegate. She has also written and illustrated her own books, including Playing Possum. Jennifer lives with her family in Iowa City, Iowa. Visit her online at jbreinhardt.com.

Editorial Reviews

Young readers will love this hilarious, informative book.” — Booklist

“Animal and word lovers alike will enjoy this clever take on homographs.” — School Library Journal (starred review)

“Gleeful linguistic fun that kids will wolf down.”   — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Details such as hats and teacups carry through from picture to picture, and on each spread the animal’s behavior and interaction with other animals of its kind are spot-on...Children will recognize the behaviors from their fellow humans while learning new vocabulary in a memorable way.” — Horn Book Magazine

From the Publisher

…a picture book that—simply and smartly—pairs animal names with their lesser-known verb forms. Park and the illustrator Jennifer Black Reinhardt pepper each page with witty details that will appeal to a wide range of ages.

The New York Times Book Review - Minh C. Le

2015-11-25
Park and Reinhardt present 18 animal homograph pairs that illustrate for readers what they mean. While the text is intentionally simple to the extreme—"Bugs bug bugs"—the watercolor-and-ink illustrations slyly complete the meanings for readers. In this case, bugs of all sorts set out to annoy one another in any way possible: one beetle chucks seeds at another, a cockroach plugs the ants' hole, etc. In each double-page spread, Reinhardt unobtrusively places the definition of each word: "to bug = to annoy," though the language in these is sometimes difficult and will require adult help ("to ape = to mimic," for instance). Other animals include flounder, quail, ape, parrot, badger, slug, crane, and crow. The illustrations provide just enough details to make the meanings clear and to entertain readers—tail feathers are on prominent display on the "Duck, ducks!" page, and no child will forget the memorable "Steers steer" page, showing bovines driving bumper cars. The animals sport slightly anthropomorphized facial expressions that are easy to read. Backmatter presents a chart of the 18 words and the origins of both the animal name and the action. An excellent and entertaining vocabulary builder: pair this with Betsy Rosenthal's An Ambush of Tigers, 2015, illustrated by Jago, for more clever, educational wordplay. (Picture book. 4-10)

Kirkus Reviews