A COOL SUMMER TAIL

The curious animals of A Warm Winter Tail (2011) return (in the same order), this time to ask their companions or respective parents how humans cool off.

Using the same clunky language and metric structure as its predecessor, fox kits ask their mama “Do they hang out their tongues, / like a spring that’s been sprung…?” She replies: “No panting! No puffing! / No huh, huh, huh huffing! / They sweat through their skin when it’s hot.” The similar queries from a turtle, bear cubs, honeybees, a butterfly and other creatures receive like answers. At the end, a lad at the edge of a pool asks the complementary question about animals, and his mother’s general answer serves as a summary of what’s come before: “Their bodies know how to stay cool.” Wald tucks line-drawn vignettes of human figures sporting wings, a shell and other fanciful features into her otherwise realistic, staid painted illustrations. Budding naturalists will come away with a sense of the variety of ways wild animals living in temperate climates stay cool (human strategies, aside from sweating and swimming, aren’t covered). They will find further detail and activities related to seasonal adaptations both at the end and on the publisher’s website.

With its companion volume, a first introduction to the topic.