Yaks Yak: Animal Word Pairs

by Jennifer Black Reinhardt (Illustrator)

Overview

At once funny and informative, Yaks Yak presents animals acting out the verbs made from their names. Illustrations rich in comic details show hogs hogging, slugs slugging, and other spirited creatures demonstrating homographs, words with different meanings that are spelled and pronounced the same. A chart listing the words, their meanings, and their history is included. Ideal for sharing, this book offers a sprightly and fanciful introduction to a fun form of wordplay.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780544391017
Publisher:	Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication date:	03/08/2016
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	10.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Linda Sue Park is the author of the Newbery Medal book A Single Shard and bestseller A Long Walk to Water. She has written several acclaimed picture book texts. She lives in Rochester, New York, with her family. Visit her online at lspark.com and on Twitter @LindaSuePark.

When her elementary school classmates said they wanted to be fireman, doctors, and vets, Jennifer Black Reinhardt declared she wanted to draw the picture on greeting cards. Today her diverse body of work includes not only greeting cards but chapter books and picture books, including Yaks Yak by Linda Sue Park and Sometimes You Fly by Katherine Applegate. Jennifer lives with her family in Iowa City, Iowa. Visit her online at jbrienhardt.com, on Twitter @jblackreinhardt, and on Instagram @JenniferBlackReinhardt. 

Editorial Reviews

…a picture book that—simply and smartly—pairs animal names with their lesser-known verb forms. Park and the illustrator Jennifer Black Reinhardt pepper each page with witty details that will appeal to a wide range of ages.

The New York Times Book Review - Minh C. Le

★ 12/14/2015
Perfectly pitched to its audience, this clever introduction to animal-themed homographs also works as a vocabulary lesson and a catchy read-aloud. Park (Xander’s Panda Party) and Reinhardt (The Inventor’s Secret) make an ideal team as they introduce an array of animals paired with verbs that share their names: “Cranes crane” their elongated necks in one spread, while “Slugs slug slugs” with boxing gloves. “Ack! I’m upside down! I’m upside down!” yells a floundering flounder, and one badger badgers another about the apple it’s carrying, his longwinded pleas too big to fit in the speech bubbles above his head. Things only get wilder as “bats bat” during a midair baseball game, cows drive bumper cars (“Steers steer”), and a ram accidentally rams a duck, forcing the ducks on the following page to, well, you get the idea. Succinct definitions are tucked into the illustrations (“to crow = to boast”), and back matter offers etymological notes about the animal names and verbs. Gleeful linguistic fun that kids will wolf down. Ages 4–7. Author’s agent: Ginger Knowlton, Curtis Brown. Illustrator’s agent: Marietta Zacker, Nancy Gallt Literary Agency. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

Amazon Best Children’s Books of the Year: NonFiction
Shelf Awareness Best of 2016

"Details such as hats and teacups carry through from picture to picture, and on each spread the animal’s behavior and interaction with other animals of its kind are spot-on...Children will recognize the behaviors from their fellow humans while learning new vocabulary in a memorable way."
–Horn Book


• "Gleeful linguistic fun that kids will wolf down."
–Publishers Weekly, STARRED review


• "Animal and word lovers alike will enjoy this clever take on homographs..."
–School Library Journal, STARRED review

"Young readers will love this hilarious, informative book."
–Booklist

From the Publisher

Yaks yak, while the playful bats bat, the grumpy rams ram, the fearful ducks duck and tough slugs slug it out. Homonyms abound in this brilliantly simple animal wordplay. Hilarious pictures bring comically delightful word pairs to life. Full-spread illustrations accompany each word pair, along with a simple definition of the non-animal homonyms. The true genius comes in the creative way the pictures illustrate the homonyms. Parroting parrots decorate a clotheslines while complimenting parrot friends on their nice hair and dapper ties. Steering steers chill out in the bumper cars at the fair. Fish use a “Book of Compliments” to fish among the other fish. Regal crows crow about their hats from Paris and being the best worm catchers. Children will enjoy reading the simple text on their own. Teachers and adults will delight in using it for lessons on homonyms and for exploring the quirky English language. Recommended for fun-loving individuals of all ages. Reviewer: Natalie Gurr; Ages 5 to 9.

Children's Literature - Natalie Gurr

★ 12/01/2015
Gr 1–4—Animal and word lovers alike will enjoy this clever take on homographs, in this case, verbs that are spelled and pronounced like animal names. Each spread features a comical illustration of animals engaged in unusual activities. A short sentence such as "Flounders flounder" or "Dogs dog dogs" appears on the verso, with a definition of the verb on the recto. Thus, yaks yak over tea, quails quail at an imposing dragon kite, bats bat baseballs in a midnight sky, and pairs of slugs slug slugs with red boxing gloves. A final spread offers a chart of the word pairs followed by the derivation of the animal's name as well as that of the action word. In some cases the verb refers to the animal's behavior, such as ape, parrot, and ram. In other cases, one seemingly has nothing to do with the other, as in quail, steer, and kid. The vibrant, amusing watercolor-and-ink illustrations introduce youngsters to some words and animals they may not know. They are occasionally enhanced with funny speech bubbles such as upside down flounders remarking, "I did not mean to do that" or relentless badgers begging an apple, "Be kind…give me the apple…you don't need…[it]…. You could stand to lose a few pounds…." or greedy hogs hoarding piles of apples with signs like "MINE ALL MINE!" Other whimsical touches, such as a small fish fishing for The Book of Compliments will offer knowing readers a chuckle. VERDICT An original and fun way to build vocabulary.—Barbara Auerbach, New York City Public Schools

School Library Journal

2015-11-25
Park and Reinhardt present 18 animal homograph pairs that illustrate for readers what they mean. While the text is intentionally simple to the extreme—"Bugs bug bugs"—the watercolor-and-ink illustrations slyly complete the meanings for readers. In this case, bugs of all sorts set out to annoy one another in any way possible: one beetle chucks seeds at another, a cockroach plugs the ants' hole, etc. In each double-page spread, Reinhardt unobtrusively places the definition of each word: "to bug = to annoy," though the language in these is sometimes difficult and will require adult help ("to ape = to mimic," for instance). Other animals include flounder, quail, ape, parrot, badger, slug, crane, and crow. The illustrations provide just enough details to make the meanings clear and to entertain readers—tail feathers are on prominent display on the "Duck, ducks!" page, and no child will forget the memorable "Steers steer" page, showing bovines driving bumper cars. The animals sport slightly anthropomorphized facial expressions that are easy to read. Backmatter presents a chart of the 18 words and the origins of both the animal name and the action. An excellent and entertaining vocabulary builder: pair this with Betsy Rosenthal's An Ambush of Tigers, 2015, illustrated by Jago, for more clever, educational wordplay. (Picture book. 4-10)

Kirkus Reviews