The Beauty of the Beast

Bibliography
Prelutsky, Jack. 1997. The Beauty of the Beast. Illustrated by Meilo So. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN: 0679970584.

Plot Summary
This book is an anthology of poems selected by Jack Prelutsky about different types of animals. Animal lovers will find more than 200 poems about various insects, sea creatures, reptiles and amphibians, birds, and mammals. Every child can find poems about the animal he or she loves or hates.

Critical Analysis
The Beauty of the Beast is a very interesting topical anthology about animals. This book is especially helpful to teachers and librarians as they can use it as a thematic connection while teaching about animals in the classroom. Since the poems deal with variety of animals, children will be able to find poems that refer to their favorite animal or maybe a not so favorite animal too. Although some poems could be hard to comprehend there is something for all ages and levels of understanding in this book.

The water color illustrations enhance the richness of the beautiful poems. The title suits the book very well as some of the poems are truly touching bringing out the beauty of the beast. Prelutsky has also written short opening poems at the beginning of each section that describes the animal category very nicely. My personal favorites in this anthology are - “The Ants Crawl” by Eleanor Schick, “Bumble Bee” by Margaret Wise Brown, “Cocoon” by David McCord, “Fish” and “Frog” by Mary Ann Hoberman, “Mud Turtles” by Grace Taber Hallock, “Naming the Turtle” by Patricia Hubbell, “Woodpecker” by Ted Hughes and many more.

Jack Prelutsky has carefully collected a variety of interesting poems for this anthology so that children will surely find something they will enjoy.