Book Review (Nonfiction and Biography): What Do You Do If Something Wants to Eat You?

Bibliography
Jenkins, Steve. 1997. WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN SOMETHING WANTS TO EAT YOU?  Houghton Mifflin Company: Boston, MA. ISBN 0395825148

Summary
In this concept book by Steve Jenkins, how animals defend themselves from other animals is explored. This book is filled with unusual and surprising examples. Some of the animals that are included are the clown fish, basilisk lizard, and the flying fish.

Critical Analysis
Jenkins informs and entertains readers in this informational book that is geared for younger readers, but can be enjoyed by older readers. The accuracy of the book is assumed, mainly because Jenkins has a gained a reputation for his books on the animal kingdom. The information in the book is either common knowledge by adults, or easy to verify. Since this book is written for younger audiences, the organization is simple and easy to follow. There is predictability with the pattern of the book; for example, on one page is the animal, and then when the page is turned, it is revealed how the animal defends itself. From the start, Jenkins engages the reader by telling them “most animals face the constant danger of being eaten by other animals. This book shows a few of the ways that they try to avoid this fate.” He closes the book by asking the reader to imagine what they would do if something wanted to eat you.

Jenkins has a unique design and style to this book. The font that is used to perfect for young readers and easy for them to follow. This couples with the artwork that Jenkins creates. Jenkins depicts the animals and their situations using collages made of cut paper. The artwork is intricate, but remains appealing to the readers. He is also able to give visual representation to the words, so the readers can see exactly what the words are saying.

Review Excerpt
The art of camouflage works on several levels here: Jenkins (Big and Little, 1996, etc.) cleverly conceals a factual compendium of 14 animal and insect defenses as a colorful picture book. Predators are depicted in pursuit of prey on each right-hand side of the spread; a flip of the page uncovers the clever escape mechanism employed by the would-be victim, from the bombardier beetle that can spray hot chemicals up to 500 times a second, to the glass snake that conveniently segments its tail. Whether curling up into an armor-plated ball, squirting clouds of ink, or imitating a leaf, the tricksters are described in a couple of sentences that invite further investigation of these survival techniques. Layered cut-paper collage animals are positioned in dramatic stances against textured handmade-paper backgrounds. In a few instances, the black typeface is difficult to discern when it is superimposed on the dark green of leaf or grass. One final question, "What would you do if something wanted to eat you?" takes readers into their own cat-and-mouse scenarios. A dashing look at natural escape routes. Kirkus Reviews

Strengths and Weaknesses
The artwork of What Do You Do if Something Wants to Eat You is both its strength and weakness. Jenkins creates amazing illustrations using cut paper and it is both beautiful and informing to look it. On the other hand, in my mind I kept wondering what it would really look like to see these animals defending themselves and I thought real photographs would also be helpful.

Personal Response and Connections
Jenkins created a beautiful and well-written informational book about animals and how they defend themselves. I had to read the book several times, the first time I read the words and glanced at the pictures, and the second time I glanced at the words and took my time looking at the pictures. I was especially amazed by the hog-nosed snake and all of the little pieces of paper that were used to create it. Even though this book is designed for younger audiences, I still learned some new things, like the glass snake is actually a type of lizard that has a tail that breaks into pieces if it is grabbed.

One of the activities that could be done with this book is to invite children to imagine what they would do to defend themselves if something wanted to eat them. Then they can be given paper to create their own collages, modeling the work of Jenkins.