humor, and a little silliness ( )

The kids have to know what an anteater is, right? Of course, I had a class of four year olds who refused to accept that lions and tigers were cats...

Anyways, this book introduces a goofy (if unlikely) series of animals as anteater searches for just exactly what he eats (was there a reason the anteater is male? I don't think so - this is one I'd change to she just to even things out a bit).

The story begins on a bare plain with anteater waking up from a nap and realizing "I'm hungry." But what, exactly, does he eat? He's forgotten! He tries asking a sloth who is too busy. A toucan suggests melons, but the anteater's mouth isn't wide enough. A rather sick snake doesn't know, but does suggest that whatever he eats he chews it first... a crocodile offers to share old fish, bats are busy catching bugs, and a hungry jaguar thinks the anteater looks tasty! The anteater tries one last time, very politely, asking an army of ants but they all run away! Naturally, this gives anteater the clue to what he eats...

bananas!

The publisher's flap describes the jaguar as a cheetah, but I'm going to correct that since they are the one animal that doesn't live by anteaters and the jaguar in the picture looks like, well, a jaguar. Clearly small children are not the only ones who don't know basic animal facts. Sigh.

Verdict: The anteater's face is hilarious and this not only introduces children to a number of South American animals (seriously, we're on the same continent and you don't know what a tapir is??) but will have them giggling hysterically as well.

ISBN: 9781536205916; Published July 2019 by Nosy Crow/Candlewick; Review copy provided by publisher; Donated to the library