Escargot (Board Book)

by Dashka Slater, Sydney Hanson (Illustrator)

Overview

Say Bonjour! to this board book edition of the first picture book in the bestselling Escargot series about a cute French snail and his laugh-out-loud adventures—the perfect gift for baby showers, new and expecting parents, or any occasion.

Escargot is an adorable French snail who only wants two things: 1) To be your favorite animal, and 2) To eat the delicious salad at the end of this book. Except this delicious salad has a carrot in it. And Escargot hates carrots. But when he finally tries one—with a little help from you!—he realizes that it’s not so bad after all.

From New York Times–bestselling author Dashka Slater and former Pixar animator Sydney Hanson, Escargot is an irresistibly sweet and charming story about a snail who might be a picky eater but definitely wants to be your new best friend. This hilarious and interactive addition to the award-winning Escargot series is the ideal read aloud for babies and toddlers, story time, and animal lovers.

Don’t miss Escargot’s other funny and heartwarming adventures for kids ages 4-6 in:

● A Book for Escargot

● Love, Escargot (also available as a board book for babies and toddlers up to 3 years old)

● Escargot and the Search for Spring (also available as a board book for babies and toddlers up to 3 years old)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780374314286
Publisher:	Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date:	10/19/2021
Series:	Escargot
Pages:	34
Sales rank:	90,830
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 6.40(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	3 Months to 3 Years

About the Author

Award-winning journalist Dashka Slater has written for such publications as The New York Times Magazine, Newsweek, Salon, and Mother Jones. Her New York Times-bestselling young-adult true crime narrative, The 57 Bus, has received numerous accolades, including the Stonewall Book Award, the California Book Award, and a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor. It was a YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award Finalist and an LA Times Book Award Finalist, in addition to receiving four starred reviews and being named to more than 20 separate lists of the year’s best books, including ones compiled by The Washington Post, the New York Public Library, and School Library Journal. In 2021, The 57 Bus was named to TIME magazine’s list of the 100 Best Young Adult Books of All Time. The author of fifteen books of fiction and nonfiction for children and adults, Dashka teaches in Hamline University’s MFA in Creative Writing for Children and Young Adults program. She lives and writes in Oakland, California.

Sydney Hanson was raised in Minnesota alongside numerous pets and brothers. In addition to her traditional illustrations, Sydney is an experienced 2D and 3D production artist and has worked for several animation shops, including Nickelodeon and Disney Interactive. In her spare time she enjoys traveling and spending time outside with her adopted brother, a Labrador retriever named Cash. She is the illustrator of the Unicorn Princesses series and the picture book, Next to You. Sydney lives in Sierra Madre, California.

Editorial Reviews

Winner of the Kentucky Bluegrass Award

Winner of the Wanda Gág Read Aloud Book Award

"Escargot’s voice is parfait, an airy blend of ego and need masterfully balanced in witty and well-turned sentences that leave plenty of room for audiences to get the joke . . . Trim, controlled pencil and watercolor art gives Escargot the inevitable French sailor’s shirt, neckerchief, and teeny beret, but the jaunty guy’s wide, sincere eyes reveal the depth of his yearning snail soul—and make for some great comic faces." —Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, starred review

"Say bonjour to your new favorite animal, the garden snail! . . . In Hanson’s soft, cartoonish illustrations, Escargot’s hammy expressions are perfectly in keeping with his gently boastful narrative. Give this charming read-aloud a little extra joie de vivre by reading it in your best French accent." —Booklist

"A charming little French snail takes center stage as it entices a child to share a meal. It's hard to imagine an escargot heading toward a salad as destined to be anything other than part of the dish, but this engaging snail upends convention . . . An unusual, tongue-in-cheek aid to getting children to eat a disliked food—even the dreaded carrot." —Kirkus Reviews

More Praise for the Escargot Series:

"Escargot is a treat!" —Booklist on A Book for Escargot

"A fun interactive book that will have readers practicing their own over-the-top French accent." —School Library Journal on A Book for Escargot

"It’s easy to be won over by this mighty mollusk." —Kirkus Reviews on Love, Escargot

"It was love at first sight for this magnifique book." —New York Journal of Books on Love, Escargot

From the Publisher

06/01/2017
PreS-K—Meet Escargot, a French snail, complete with black beret, striped shirt, and red kerchief. He is on a journey to the end of the book, where there is a delicious salad, "with croutons and a light vinaigrette." Escargot invites a child reader to join him and asks the child to name a favorite animal, before he shares "a very sad thing: Nobody ever says their favorite animal is the snail." Escargot uses his persuasive powers to challenge the reader to view his qualities in a new light and choose him as a favorite pet. For example, the trails he makes are "shimmery" instead of slimy, and his shyness masks a ferocity that he uses to scare away unwanted carrots in his salad. Once Escargot and the reader reach the salad, there's a dreaded carrot in it! Escargot suggests that "on the count of three we will take a very, very, very small bite of the carrot." The snail finds it surprisingly delicious (it's assumed that the reader might, too), and with panache, he declares the reader his favorite animal. With soft, muted colors and a charismatic main character, this title will win many fans. VERDICT A magnifique read-aloud that will charm and delight preschool audiences.—Ramarie Beaver, Plano Public Library System, TX

School Library Journal

2017-01-17
A charming little French snail takes center stage as it entices a child to share a meal.It's hard to imagine an escargot heading toward a salad as destined to be anything other than part of the dish, but this engaging snail upends convention. Escargot peeks around the edge of the front endpapers and invites readers to share the experience of "traveling to the salad at the end of this book." Close-ups of the big-eyed protagonist dressed in a jaunty blue-and-white striped shirt, red neckerchief, and black beret dominate the book. The last pages reveal the light-skinned child from whose visual perspective the story unfolds. Soft-edged, cartoonish illustrations in watercolor humorously emphasize Escargot's confident worldview. The first-person text encourages reading aloud with a French accent: "Oh la la!...Escargot is magnifique! You can kiss me if you want." Desperate to be readers' favorite animal (he doesn't seem to be for anybody else), Escargot even manages to explain away the slime as "shimmery trails of…shimmery stuff." As Escargot slides past quiche and brie, the race is on to see who can reach the salad—and that carrot—first. An unusual, tongue-in-cheek aid to getting children to eat a disliked food—even the dreaded carrot. (Picture Book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews