Book of the week-Tank Tank Skunk

This weeks book is Tank Tank Skunk! by Steve Webb. I only have one complaint about the book: I can't find a picture of Steve Webb anywhere. Unless he is the British politician, which he may be. I haven't been able to find much of a history on this author, and I have only found one other book by him (which I have still to check out). As I mentioned before, I like to have a picture of the authors so that the children can make a connection to an actual person.

Other than that one issue, I love Tanka Tanka Skunk! Children of all ages love it as well. I have read this book succesfully with children as young as 12 months all the way up to 5 years old. It is a great book for so many things: rhythm, rhyming, music, animal recognition, syllables, volume (loud and soft) and patterning. The "refrain" of the book is simple and the children quickly pick it up before the first time through. This way they can immediatly participate in the reading of it. This engages them quickly! The pictures are simple and viabrant. It also does what every toddler probably wishes every book did: insists on reading it again, as the last sentence is "Once more from the top...faster this time, please!"

In some ways, it's like the song that never ends. When I want to stop reading this book, I just leave out that last page. It's a great way for children to practice with lanugage and rhyming. The older the children, the fast they try to go every time we read it through.

A great activity with this book is to have some drums and percusion instruments to beat along with as you read. When you start talking about syllables, this is the first book that should come out!

There are common animals, such as a donkey and a duck, and there are also animals that you never really read about in children's books, such as lemur, badger, yak, and armadillo.

Children will also be able to read this book on their own as the pictures tell you the words. They will easily read this on their own.

This is one of those books that is necessary in any classroom or home library! It will last through many years of growth!