Reviews for Mama dug a little den

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Catchy rhymes describe the cozy spaces 13 animals find, make, and use. In this companion to Mama Built a Little Nest (2014), Ward and Jenkins introduce a variety of animals who dig, scrape, construct, or adopt a cavity for a wide variety of uses. From the red fox who births and raises her kits in a maternity den to the sea turtle who buries her eggs in the sand, the author has chosen interesting, frequently familiar, animals. A beaver builds a lodge to share with an entire family; a polar bear scoops out a cave in the snow for her cubs; prairie dogs construct huge towns of connected burrows; a tarantula lurks inside a hole waiting for prey to pass by; red and gray squirrels dig holes to store nuts in the ground. Each spread shows an appealing creature, often a family, depicted in the illustrator's signature collage style. Smoothly constructed quatrains, usually beginning with the title line, introduce each den. (An author's note points out that she uses the word "Mama" loosely; some dens are constructed by males or by both parents.) On the facing page a short paragraph provides the animal's name and something about the den's use. Finally, the implied reader (only legs and boots are shown) is invited to notice interesting holes: "it will make you wonder / who or what might be inside!"A storytime delight for the nature shelf. (Informational picture book. 4-7) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.


Horn Book
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Ward primarily focuses on mother animals digging holes to protect young, but she also offers other reasons for digging (e.g., squirrel to bury nuts, frog to hibernate). A purposeful rhyming text indicates why or where an animal digs, while a brief paragraph on each spread goes into more detail about each creature. Jenkins adds appeal with his trademark collage illustrations. (c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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