Wordsmith Wednesday: Sniff-Snuff-Snap!

This is one of our very favorite Lynley Dodd books. It's about a bossy wharthog who chases all the other animals away from the dwindling waterhole. This 1-10 counting book is a really fun read aloud because of the rhyme and great rhythm/meter (the best of any of the books we have read by Dodd). The refrain is a bit catchy, and I have found myself chanting it from time to time:
"Eeeeee!"
squealed the wharthog,
"SNIFF-SNUFF-SNAP!"
He chased them away
but they all sneaked back.
Back to the water hole
green and brown,
and slowly
the water went down and down.
It has great illustrations, and Owen and I enjoy looking at the baboons, yellow weaver birds, and all the other critters as well as the gathering rain clouds through the book.
Owen and I give this book a two thumbs up.

We'd like to thank our friend Carolyn for introducing us to Lynley Dodd who is a New Zealand author. Carolyn sent Owen his first two Dodd books when he was born, and Slinky Malinki Open the Door and Hairy McLary Scattercat are still some of his favorite books. Dodd's illustrations are realistic, detailed, and always interesting to examine. Many of her books use a lot of repetition so that kids can enjoy "reading" along with you. Although she makes excellent use of meter and rhyme (a la Dr. Seuss), it's not just sing-song nonsense. Her books show logical progression, and she uses lots of big words - bumptious, belicose, and the like. Her characters - Hercules Morse, Schnitzel von Krumm, Slinky Malinki, Bottomly Potts - are memorable and appear in multiple books. They often learn lessons. Her books are a bit hard to find around here, but they are well worth the hunt and the library requests if you have a little person to read to.