What's for Dinner? Quirky, Squirmy Poems from the Animal World

Hauth's funny, eloquent poems celebrate the often-grisly realities of the food chain, depicted in Clark's scraggly ink and watercolor illustrations. A mole gags on a banana slug, a rat "gets a hug" from a boa constrictor, and a flattened toad becomes a roadkill restaurant ("In adjoining rooms, they dine al fresco—/ upper thigh for ants, lower thigh for wasps"). Readers will learn plenty along the way: "Eating Words," points out that "vore means eat" and "carni means meat," therefore, "carnivores eat/ snakes and lizards, deer and lamb,/ carrion, birds, fish, and ham." Appended notes provide additional animal facts. A satisfying mix of tutelage and repartee. Ages 7–10. (Feb.)