Read It, Don't Eat It!

by Ian Schoenherr, Ian Schoenherr (Illustrator)

Overview

Featuring a motley cast of mischievous animals learning how to take proper care of books, this irresistible picture book is a celebration of reading sure to delight parents, librarians, teachers, and new readers alike. Full color.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061724558
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	04/28/2009
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	1,117,747
Product dimensions:	10.20(w) x 10.20(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	390L (what's this?)
Age Range:	2 - 4 Years

About the Author

Ian Schoenherr grew up near Locktown, New Jersey. He has written and illustrated three books—Read It, Don't Eat It!; Cat & Mouse; and Pip & Squeak—and illustrated numerous books by other authors, including Little Raccoon's Big Question, by Miriam Schlein. The artist lives in Woodside, New York.

Ian Schoenherr grew up near Locktown, New Jersey. He has written and illustrated three books—Read It, Don't Eat It!; Cat & Mouse; and Pip & Squeak—and illustrated numerous books by other authors, including Little Raccoon's Big Question, by Miriam Schlein. The artist lives in Woodside, New York.

Editorial Reviews

A picture book sure to make every librarian’s heart sing…[it] is simple enough to use with preschool children and funny enough to be appreciated by early readers.” — School Library Journal (starred review)

“Ideal for preschool storytimes; librarians will love it.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Simple, direct and knowingly funny, this book is worthy of a permanent spot on the desks of youth librarians everywhere.” — Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

What's almost as important as reading? Schoenherr (Cat & Mouse) tells readers that it's respecting and caring for the books themselves. An anthropomorphized animal cast, meticulously rendered in ink and acrylic-and reminiscent of vintage Golden Book characters (the girls even wear pinafores)-serve as role models of thoughtlessness. Big, friendly type, a soupçon of slapstick and a pinch of wordplay help take the sting off the scolding (which centers on library books but also applies to privately owned books). White backdrops and minimal propping encourage readers to focus all their attention on the characters' breaches of etiquette. "No dog-ears, please," admonishes the left hand side of one spread, while on the right side a puppy is caught folding down the edge of a page. "Don't censor, delete, or deface," is the warning given to a shifty-looking fox who is striking out some lines of text with a thick black marker. Simple, direct and knowingly funny, this book is worthy of a permanent spot on the desks of youth librarians everywhere. Ages 2-4. (May)

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Publishers Weekly

PreS-Gr 1

In a picture book sure to make every librarian's heart sing, Schoenherr has created a simple rhyming primer on how to take good care of a library book. While the subject may seem didactic, the author/illustrator's charming approach will entice parents and professionals to share this title with young kids. Each spread features one simple admonition on the verso with an animal demonstrating the dreaded-or encouraged-behavior, rendered with gentle humor ("No dog-ears, please." "Find someplace else to sneeze." "Don't overdue it, just renew it."). One white, hand-lettered sentence per page is set against a bold color, and the ink and acrylic art features endearing animal library users on an expansive white space. The book is simple enough to use with preschool children and funny enough to be appreciated by early readers.-Marge Loch-Wouters, La Crosse Public Library, WI

School Library Journal

The appealing cover is sure to entice young hands to reach for this preschooler's primer on how to treat books and behave in libraries. Jauntily dressed animals demonstrate 15 caveats with the fuzzy bear from the cover acting as top banana throughout. The rhyming dos and don'ts are printed in a very large font on the left page while the right side visually demonstrates: "Find someplace else to sneeze" shows a denim-wearing elephant holding a book to its mouth and sneezing through its trunk; "Be careful with it at the pool" has a hippo wearing a green-on-yellow polka-dot swimsuit holding a book while floating on a rubber raft; "Don't overdue it, just renew it" finds the bear staggering under a tall load of books. The clean ink-and-acrylic illustrations, akin to the author/illustrator's Cat and Mouse (2008), are pleasingly playful, with white type on the verso color pages contrasting with the brightly colored scenes set against white backgrounds on the recto. Ideal for preschool storytimes; librarians will love it (although they might have to explain "Don't censor, delete, or deface"). (Picture book. 2-5)

Kirkus Reviews