Do Not Eat Like a Tiger Shark!

June 15, 2024
Guidelines for table manners that won't irritate or gross out younger siblings. Playing comparisons with animals for laughs, Kaner adjures readers not to taste their salads with their feet as butterflies do with their food, lap soup like a dog, or indulge in similarly inappropriate misbehavior. Wilson supplies cartoon views of both the wildlife in natural settings and a light-skinned, red-haired child slopping food while a darker-skinned little sibling and two parents--one light-skinned, one Black-presenting--look on in dismay (at first, anyway). A brown-skinned baby sibling gurgles with glee throughout. Along with explaining how, for instance, flamingo bills and the trunks of elephants help these animals pick up food and drink, the author adds tasty additional nature notes: Tasmanian devils sometimes fall asleep inside the carcasses they're chewing on so that breakfast will be readily available when they awaken; tiger sharks chow down on rubber boots and other trash so indiscriminately that they're known as the "garbage cans of the sea." Except for a closing reminder to say "thank you" before leaving the table (because "that's what people do!"), the examples provided are more likely to inspire than suppress gleeful acting out...but what mealtimes with children wouldn't benefit from a little more chaos? Rowdy fun, with a few morsels of fact on the side. (additional facts) (Informational picture book. 6-8)

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