Cheetah Cubs and Beetle Grubs: The Wacky Ways We Name Young Animals.

Sylvia Pantaleo is an assistant professor of education specializing in
children’s literature at Queen’s University and the co-author of
Learning with Literature in the Canadian Elementary Classroom.

Cheetah Cubs and Beetle Grubs provides readers with information about the names given to the young of 11 various creatures: mountain goats, house mice, mackerel, mosquitoes, ducks, cheetahs, beetles, pigeons, eels, skunks, and salmon. Each entry consists of two facing pages with the textual information displayed on only one page. Swanson provides descriptions about each offspring through both a narrative format as well as a “Neat to Know” section that presents three interesting facts in bullet format. The page with the text also features a circle with a photograph of the appropriate young creature. The other single page consists of a full-page illustration of a literal interpretation of the offspring. For example, the mackerel spikes are shown as being used as tent spikes to secure the tent of a mermaid at the circus.

Swanson and Spencer have created a companion volume to A Crash of Rhinos, A Party of Jays, which focuses on the collective names given to animal groupings. Two slight criticisms: the explanation for young ducks provides a connection to “flappers of the 1920s,” and considering the age of the book’s intended audience, this reference seems inappropriate; the illustration for cheetah cubs, who are compared to Cub Scouts, depicts the cheetah cubs wearing American Cub Scout uniforms, not Canadian Wolf Cubs. However, overall, the book presents information in an engaging manner that will develop children’s vocabulary and knowledge. Recommended.