Book Summary:
Scranimal Island is an exotic place full of strange hybrid creatures. Animals, vegetables, and flowers are scrambled together to create mysterious creatures. A boy and a girl fly to each habitat to discover these strange animals (like Spinachickens and Hippopotomushrooms). The story is full of rhymes, puns, and silliness. There is also a pronunciation guide included.
APA Reference of Book:
Prelutsky, J. (2002). Scranimals. New York, NY: Greenwillow
Books.
Impressions:
I found this book very silly, although it's actually very clever too. To come up with these puns is very impressive (like Porcipineapple and Radishark). This fantasy poetry is lighthearted and fun to read. I enjoyed the play on words.
I like that there is a pronunciation guide for each creature (this is especially helpful if the book is being read aloud).
The ink and watercolored pictures help the reader to imagine these crazy creatures. The illustrations really give life to the verses.
I think this book would be great at the elementary level. I think the upper elementary-aged kids would enjoy it more because they could figure out the puns; younger kids may still think the poems are funny, but they wouldn't get the puns.
Although this isn't a book I'm likely to read over and over again, I definitely think it's an enjoyable, silly book.
Professional Review:
"On Prelutsky and Sis's Scranimal Island, intrepid explorers will find such scrambled creatures as Ostricheetahs (who run very fast but also stick their heads in the sand) and Spinahchickens (rather dimwitted green creatures who wilt in the heat). The verses are humorous, in the usual Prelutsky way-peppy, singsongy, and clever-as in this on the 'ponderous Stormy Petrelephant . . . futilely trying to fly': 'Its wings are too small to support it, / They're patently only for show, / And so it is constantly thwarted . . . / Up isn't a place it can go.' Kids will easily get and appreciate most of the combinations (the Potatoad, the Radishark); others require a greater level of sophistication (the Camelberta Peach, the Cardinalbacore), though a helpful chart appears on the back cover. Sis's simultaneously imaginative and concrete illustrations transform a nice-enough collection of related poems into a unified whole. A picture of Scranimal Island appears on the endpapers; a map on the table of contents. Two child tourists, armed with map, binoculars, and a jauntily striped inflatable life preserver, propel themselves to the island via skateboard, using an umbrella as a sail. Though muted colors characterize Scranimal Island and its denizens, on every double-page spread Sis portrays the children and their paraphernalia in bright colors, keeping the focus on them and on the power of imagination."
Parravano, M. V. (2003). Scranimals book review. [Review of
the book Scranimals, by J. Prelutsky]. Horn Book Magazine,
79(1), p. 91. Retrieved from https://libproxy.library.unt.edu:
9443/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?dir
ect=trure&db=brd&AN=518408628&scope=site
Library Uses:
This book could be used as an introduction to writing verse. It's a lighthearted, fun way to get kids excited about poetry. Then, when ready, they can practice writing their own poetry.
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