Author, Illustrator: Jillian Lund
Ages: 4-8
Have You Ever Seen A Jackalope is a fantastic kids book! It’s about a kangaroo rat named Cody who one morning meets a very strange animal he had never ever seen before. The strange animal asks Cody, “Have you ever seen a Jackalope?” “Nope,” replies Cody. Then the stranger tells Cody that the Jackalope is, “smart and good-lookin, too. I guess I’d say it’s about the most wonderful beastie you could ever behold.” Cody then is very interested in learning more about it and even finding one, so Cody goes out on a mission and ask’s all of his dessert friends if they have ever seen a Jackalope. None of his friends have ever seen one either but they tell Cody what they have heard about them. Each of the friends describes the Jackoalope differently. Cody comes to the conclusion that maybe Jackalopes are made up and that he will never see one. What Cody didn’t realize was that the stranger was a Jackalope, and that they do really exist!
I think this book would be a really good book to use in teaching young children to not always believe what you hear. The dessert animals told Cody things that were not true and he believed all of it, so he never got the chance to realize that he had in reality met a Jackalope. You could also use the book to talk about the dessert and what its like. Also about the different animals, plants and flowers you would find in a dessert.
This link is a youtube video just as an example of some of the videos you could show the students when learning about the dessert. (animals, plants and flowers)
Loved this book! It was so cute! I think it is a great book to read in New Mexico, even though it had sequoia cacti haha, because using anything that highlights the culture your living in is a great way to teach children that are not from NM how it is here. I agree that this book is great for teaching about gossip and not to trust strangers because they may not know anymore than you do.
ReplyDeleteI agree as well. This book looks pretty adorable! It really would be a great way to talk about gossip. I remember during your book talk, we talked about playing telephone with your students as an ice breaker before reading this book and talking about gossip.
ReplyDeleteThis would also be great for a biology class learning about southwestern ecosystems and could be integrating science into an English class.