Also by this author: Later, When I’m Big
Published by Eerdmans Books for Young Readers on September 17, 2024
Genres: Children's
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
A whimsical portrait of animals—and antonyms—in action.
How do you contrast creatures as different as cheetahs and tortoises, or as similar as butterflies and moths? In this lively book of poetry, antonym pairs introduce thirty-two members of the animal kingdom. Each spread presents the voices of two unique creatures: are you more like an obedient sheep or a rebellious goat? What about a tidy pig or a messy warthog? A bossy gorilla or a meek monkey?
With bold, vibrant art and amusing free verse, this collection is a memorable way to explore vocabulary, opposites, and animal traits with young readers. Every flip of the page brings a new set of faces—and another chance to laugh.
The natural world is stunning in its breadth and depth. God’s creation is vast in scope and there are any number of animals who aren’t just different from one another but absolute opposites. Fast Cheetah, Slow Tortoise is a colorful, engaging, poetic exploration of some these opposites—and along the way, it might even give young readers language for understanding something about their own selves.
There are certain books that I feel like are written for the classroom setting. Fast Cheetah, Slow Tortoise is one of them. You can cover science by talking about the various animals that appear in the book—and there’s thirty-two! You can cover English and Creative Writing by exploring how the book uses poems to describe each of the animals. If you really wanted to dive deep, you could talk about the difficulties and intricacies of translating poetry (or anything!) from one language to another, as this is a translated work into English from Dutch. And you have a smattering of social-emotional learning as each animal is described with a character trait.
Something to note about the poetry is that while this is an illustrated book for kids, it is not the sing-song ABAB or ABCB rhythm of little kid books. Some poems have a rhyme scheme. Others are free verse. The complication of this having been translated into English from Durch means that some of the intended flow of the poetry in its original language just can’t be worked out in English. That’s not a knock on David Colmer, who does a great job on the translation, it’s just the limitations of translation work.
The colorful illustrations by Mies van Hout make the book come to life. Van Hout captures the theme of opposites perfectly and provides educators a great chance to ask students what about each illustration captures the identity of the animal. For example, on the cover of Fast Cheetah, Slow Tortoise, the cheetah is elongated in a full run, body spread and stretched conveying a sense of rapid movement. The tortoise’s eyes look sleepy, their steps are small, and the lines of the drawing give a sense of stillness.
I love books like this for the myriad ways they can be used as teaching tools. Fast Cheetah, Slow Tortoise is a fun, educational, and multi-faceted tool for learning about the variety in God’s creation.