Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Inch by Inch by Leo Lionni

Lionni, L.  (1960).  Inch by Inch.  HarperCollinsPublishers.  Unpaged.

The inchworm escapes being eaten by the robin because of his unique talent:  he can measure anything.  If the inchworm doesn't measure his song, he'll eat him.  How can you measure a song?  Will the inchworm survive this time?

The title of this Caldecott Honor book refers to how an inchworm survives and escapes from being eaten by a nightingale.  A robin is about to eat an inchworm, who asks the robin to spare his life because he has a very useful talent:  he can measure things such as birds, beaks, tails, legs, and bodies.  The robin spares him, but one day a mean nightingale asks him to measure his song or else he will eat him, but the inchworm does not know how to measure a song.  While the nightingale starts to sing, the inchworm starts “measuring” and slowly inches away while the nightingale is singing with his eyes closed.  Inch by inch, the inchworm slowly but surely inched its way to survival.

I thought this book was cute.  I found it clever that the inchworm was able to get away from the nightingale and avoid being eaten.  Five- to six-year-old children would like this book.  The text is simple and easily understood.  The pictures are also simple, but are bright and colorful, complementing the story.

In addition to getting Honor from the Caldecott Award, this book was also voted Best Illustrated Children's Book and was on the Fanfare Honor List.  Find out about Leo Lionni by going here http://inkfist.com/iknow/jenniferjacobson.com/html/wp-content/uploads/file/TeachingSixTraitswithAndyShane.pdf.  Other books by Leo Lionni include A Color of His Own, Colors, Numbers, Letters, and Frederick.

 
















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