IF YOU HAD A NOSE LIKE AN ELEPHANT’S TRUNK

A young girl explores the fantasy of what she could do if she had the trunk of an elephant, the feet of a fly, the tongue of a snapping turtle, the jaw of a snake, or the spinnerets of a spider. Then she glories in what she can do with her human nose, legs, and mouth. Writing as smoothly as she did in Sleep, Little One, Sleep (1999), Bauer offers the possibility of a storytime movement segment in which children could pretend to be the various animals. She also presents a glimpse of animal behavior. At one point, the little girl holds a lizard’s tail that has broken off in order to facilitate escape. “If you had a tail like a lizard’s, you could never be caught in a game of tag.” Creative teachers could spin off into a discussion of the phenomenon. But the lizard’s small light-brown tail held in the little girl’s beige hand can only be seen close up, making this less effective for a group. Unfortunately for the concept of glorifying the human child, Winter’s (Toddler Time, 2000, etc.) pretty children are all standard-issue Caucasians, not a child of color or limited ability among them. Compare this to Jean Marzollo’s and Jerry Pinkney’s Pretend You’re a Cat (1990) and know that this is a truly missed opportunity. (Picture book. 2-5)