Consider the Lemming

by Jeanne Steig, William Steig (Illustrator)

Overview

From the award-winning children’s book duo, Jeanne and William Steig, comes a wildly wily collection of poetry all about the…peculiarities…of the animal kingdom!

Consider the lemming:
No hawing or hemming
No dilly or dally
No silly or shally
The whole lemming nation
In one wild migration
Is off to the sea.

In this sly and hilarious collection of illustrated verse about the animal kingdom—from the lemming to the human—critically acclaimed author/illustrator duo Jeanne and William Steig introduce readers to the foibles of all kinds of creatures. And you’ll never look at animals quite the same way ever again!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781481439633
Publisher:	Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books
Publication date:	02/02/2016
Pages:	48
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	750L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Jeanne Steig is the author of several books for children including, most notably, Consider the Lemming, The Old Testament Made Easy, Alpha Beta Chowder, A Handful of Beans, and A Gift from Zeus; all of which were illustrated by her late husband and award-winning author/illustrator, William Steig. She lives in Boston, Massachusetts.

William Steig (1907–2003) was a cartoonist, illustrator, and author of award-winning books for children. Most notably Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, for which he received the Caldecott Medal; The Amazing Bone, a Caldecott Honor book; Amos & Boris, a National Book Award Finalist; and Abel’s Island and Doctor De Soto, both Newbery Honor books. Steig is also the creator of Shrek! which inspired the Dreamworks films. Steig also received the Christopher Award, the Irma Simonton Black Award, the William Allen White Children’s Book Award, the America Book Award, and Society of Illustrators Lifetime Achievement Award. He was also the US nominee for both of the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Awards as an illustrator in 1982, and then as an author in 1988. He is survived by his wife, Jeanne Steig, and four children.

Editorial Reviews

02/01/2016
Gr 5 Up—Thirty animal poems, accompanied by William Steig's familiar comic drawings, roll along rhythmically in this small book. Jeanne Steig favors couplets and quatrains and includes a few limericks in consideration of pigs and giraffes, the stork and the penguin, the mythical manticore, and, finally, the human race. While the verses skim along quickly, and the art on the book jacket is reminiscent of William Steig's picture books, many words, allusions, and innuendoes will most resonate with adult readers. The beaver "can gnaw through a tree/While you pour the Chablis./He's a consummate overachiever." The lemming doesn't shilly or shally or dilly or dally in its wild migration to the water. "A lem to the slaughter!/Don't ask him 'Who sent ya?'/It must be dementia—unless it's ennui." There are plenty of quick chuckles for older readers. "We talk about the bull a lot…. We take him by the horns in daring/and name him when we fall to swearing./Sometimes we shoot the bull. Poor Taurus!/He must—how could he not—abhor us." The absurdity of the stork bringing "new babies, tucked in little slings" and the need for Adam and Eve to leave Eden are fun spoofs of human lore. "The need arose in apple season. It's called the Fall, for just that reason." The work all bears much earlier copyrights, but the clean format with William Steig's spare black-and-white sketches and Jeanne Steig's deft patter still seem fresh, offering enjoyable perusing and many good read-aloud possibilities for mature audiences.—Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston

School Library Journal

``Delicious rhymes'' about members of the animal kingdom make up this ``wily collaboration of two very kindred spirits,'' said PW. All ages. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly