Books

Published on July 16th, 2017 | by Andrew Bistak

Watch Out, Snail! Book Review

Watch Out, Snail! Book Review Andrew Bistak
Score

Summary: Watch Out, Snail! is a real-life snail tale!

4.3

Snail Tales!


Written by Gay Hay and illustrated by Margaret Tolland, Watch Out, Snail is the charming adventures about a forest snail, more specifically the New Zealand species of Powelliphanta. Coming out at night, this snail explores the forests for food as it avoids a wide range of predators in this edutainment tale. It’s basically a story about the circle of life.

Night slips in. The forest stirs.
Down in its depths live Snail, its shell as big as your fist.

Even though darkness is a time for hunting, this snail which is as big as a fist moves silently and slowly through the forest as it searches for worms. The writing of Gay Hay is excellent who really captures the essence of this creature and her words really help bring this tale to life, including some great learning moments.

Rat sneaks up, long whiskers twitching.
Snail slides into a hollow, safe from Rat’s marauding teeth.

Furthermore, the art of Margaret Tolland is gorgeous and I love how the publishers have incorporated a shiny shell on this snail which makes it stand out even more, not only adding a sensory application. I also like how the writer has added a variety of predators for this snail such as a possum, rat and even a hedgehog as they too search for dinner.

The last part of the book is all about the snail which includes the places where they live in New Zealand and scientific information about these creatures such as they are carnivorous, they slide along a strong muscular foot and when a new snail hatches, it takes some of the calcium from its shell to grow.

Final Thoughts?

Watch Out, Snail! is a fun book about a snail and even though it’s not a fantasy tale, it will still bring children into the story as they follow this little creature and learn all sorts of interesting facts about the Powelliphanta from New Zealand!


About the Author

When he's not trying to save the world, Andrew enjoys travel (although loathes turbulence), going to the movies, reading and being a dad to his two dogs (and now twins) with his wife.



Back to Top ↑