Slap, Squeak & Scatter is a 2001 picture book by Steve Jenkins. Like the other books by Jenkins I’ve discussed, such as What Do You Do With a Tail Like That?, this book is wonderful. It is strong in every way, so strong that it could be used as a model for books of its type (science-related picture books).
The subtitle, “How Animals Communicate,” gives the book’s focus. The entire book examines many different ways in which animals communicate, and the ways examined are very different indeed. The book shows slaps (beavers), vocal sounds (cries, growls, songs, both bird and whale), sounds made by inflation (toads with throat sacs), friction (grasshoppers rubbing legs together), body language of many sorts, scents, biochemical markers, facial expressions (chimps), and things that may surprise you, like mole rats banging their heads on their tunnel roofs or hippos scattering their dung. I had known some of these things, but not others, so even though this is a picture book…I learned.
And then there’s the art, which is both accurate and artistic. That is to say, the images capture the postures and expressions of these animals, but Jenkins’ collage images are both striking in themselves and well-positioned on the page. For example, the two-page spread on vultures manages to communicate not just how vulture wings spread, but also how a group of turkey vultures flying over dead animals forms a circle–and communicates a sense of motion.
I suggest this book for everyone.
