This Is What A Slug Does

Slugs are not the usual subject of a book – either fiction or non-fiction – but this book, designed for young readers, is both!

The book combines telling the reader about Simon the Slug’s day (from what he does, eats, who he meets and who he nearly gets eaten by) with interesting facts and information about each of those aspects. The book uses the bold and vibrant illustrations of Aniek Bartel, and I would suggest lingering on the end pages with children to look at the different slugs that pack the pages. If you look carefully, you can see a number of Simons with his distinctive blue hat

! The book begins with a more non-fiction text approach, with the labelling of Simon the slug’s different body parts, explaining their purpose and function. The following pages then use these elements to weave together a story of Simon’s day. The illustrations through the book use distinctive colours with clear and simple depictions of the things Simon encounters, giving delightful personalities to not only Simon the slug but also the shrew, the mole and Susan the slug, who helps to explain (well – as far as we know) how slugs mate!

There are lots of opportunities for children to explore the illustrations, join in with the text, notice the changes in font and the repeated words and phrases. The use of font cleverly guides the reader in how the text could be read aloud and this book certainly cries out to be read aloud to young children. The book ends with another, more traditional, non-fiction style, facts page that helps to explain some of what Simon did in his day and the things that happened to him. This is a hugely enjoyable book for the early years.