Extreme Animals: Speediest! and Stinkiest! by Steve Jenkins

Photo courtesy of author

Danielle Hartsfield is Assistant Professor in the Teacher Education Department at the University of North Georgia in Dahlonega. She teaches courses in the elementary education program including Children’s Literature and Language Arts. Danielle recently completed service on the 2018 Robert F. Sibert Medal committee and is currently the President-Elect of the Children’s Literature and Reading Special Interest Group, an affiliate of the International Literacy Association.

Stinkiest!: 20 Smelly Animals
by Steve Jenkins book cover

Speediest!: 19 Very Fast Animals and Stinkiest!: 20 Smelly Animals are new installations in the Extreme Animals series by well-known author/illustrator Steve Jenkins. Both are 40-page chapter books intended for transitional readers, children who can read independently but may not be ready for lengthier books. Speediest! features the fastest animals that run, fly, swim, and move, while Stinkiest! describes animals that use odor for defense or to mark territory.

These books have excellent qualities meriting consideration by the Geisel committee. The subject matter is certainly “intriguing enough to motivate the child to read.” Both are peppered with interesting facts that will compel to children to share their learning with others. Take the chapter about the mantis shrimp, for example. Did you know that it can deliver a punch 400 times faster than you can blink your eyes? Young readers will be awed by the amazing feats of the animals showcased in these books, and they will probably have a few laughs, too. (Did you know that the hoatzin’s putrid gas emissions protect it from predators?)

Both titles are designed with consideration for transitional readers. Each chapter is devoted to a single animal and is no longer than two pages. Individual chapters are distinguished by headers, and most pages have ample white space so that readers are not overwhelmed. Large illustrations in Jenkins’s signature collage style support children’s understanding of the text.

Speediest!: 19 Very Fast
Animals by Steve Jenkins
book cover

Speediest! and Stinkiest! include several features to introduce readers to the conventions of informational books. A table of contents allows children to quickly locate animals of interest. Sidebars describe where each animal lives and what it eats, and text bubbles provide additional facts. Small diagrams indicate each animal’s size relative to an adult human’s. Both books provide informative backmatter in visual form such as a chart (Speediest!) and concept map (Stinkiest!). Bibliographies lend credibility to the information presented, but several sources are outdated.

As science-themed informational books, Speediest! and Stinkiest! include domain-specific vocabulary that may be challenging to young readers. Potentially unfamiliar words (e.g., predator, territory) appear in blue font and are defined in glossaries. However, the definitions are sometimes too sophisticated for the intended audience. For example, in Stinkiest!, algae is defined as “simple plants that range in size from tiny single-celled organisms to giant seaweed” (p. 38). Though “organisms” and “single-celled” are used in the definition for “algae,” these may be more difficult terms for young readers than “algae.”

Moreover, the text may be too challenging for independent reading by children in the Geisel’s range of K-2. Both books are classified as a level P according to the Fountas & Pinnell system; the Lexile measures for Speediest! and Stinkiest! are 820 and 870, respectively. These reading levels suggest the books may be more appropriate for typical fourth grade readers.

While Speediest! and Stinkiest! are quality informational books that deserve spots on library shelves and in classrooms, the challenging vocabulary and text complexity make them both unlikely contenders for the 2019 Geisel Award.