Scranimals

Scranimals

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4.21 of 5 stars 4.21  ·  rating details  ·  167 ratings  ·  48 reviews
We're sailing to Scranimal Island,

It doesn't appear on most maps....

Scranimal Island is where you will find the fragrant Rhinocerose, the cunning Broccolions, and if you are really, really lucky and very, very quiet, you will spot the gentle, shy Pandaffodil. (You may even hear it yawning if the morning's just begun, watch its petals slowly open to embrace the rising sun.

S...more
Paperback, 48 pages
Published February 28th 2006 by Greenwillow Books (first published 2002)
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Jessica Vanhemel
I am not a big fan of poetry in general, I normally don't enjoy reading it. However, this book with its captivating illustrations was a great find. The illustrations really draw you into the individual poems about the wondrous creatures on the island. The illustrations are not extremely fancy but they help tell the story well and really help you visualize exactly what is going on in the text. The illustrations are not super colorful, in fact most of the images are dull in color, the emphasis is...more
Kelly
Scranimals poems by Jack Prelutsky and illustrated by Peter Sis is a collection of poems each devoted to one or two different Scranimals. The first poem invites the reader to take an adventure to Scranimal Island to view some very rare and unknown animals. A scranimal could be the mixture of an animal and a food (such as a porcupine and a pineapple), an animal and a flower (such as rhinoceros and a rose), or two animals (such as a cheetah and an ostrich). Not every poem follows the same rhyming...more
Ginta Harrigan
I really like “Scranimals.” Prelutsky merges animal names with plants, vegetables, and other animals to create new words and essentially new animals (e.g. petrelephant and ostricheetah). I read this book to my students and they loved it. They thought the new animal names were hilarious.

Prelutsky uses rhyme that suits the meaning of the story. He does so in a way that is entertaining and interesting. For example he writes, “Oh beautiful RHINOCEROSE, so captivating, head to toes, so aromatic, toes...more
Eva Leger
2.5 - This was a bit of a let down. I was so pumped when I found this because Julia and I have a game we love to play where one of us comes up with two totally different animals and then we both try to figure out the best name for their baby. You can imagine my surprise and happiness when I found this.
First, this isn't just mixing animals, the author threw in vegetables and fruit, which just threw the entire thing off for us. There are enough animals in the world to stick with the animals, much...more
Delicia
Genre: Fiction, Picture book, poetry

Audience:

Topic: imaginary island filled with imaginary animals

Theme: animals combined with fruits/vegetables; poetry;

Use: Read Aloud, Guided reading, classroom lessons on poetry;

Reading Level: Fluent

Illustrations: The pictures really bring the text to life. They reveal what such creatures as the Potatoad look like. The only problem being that the illustrations can limit the children's imagination by providing a visual instead of making them rely on their me...more
Ch13_julie
The poetry book, "Scranimals" by Jack Prelutsky takes readers on a wild, imaginative adventure! The first page begins with two young children going on an adventure to Scranimal Island. They invite readers to join them and off we go! From there each page features an "animal" found on Scranimal Island. The animals are made up and often combine an animal with another animal, fruit, or plant. This book will definitely make readers laugh. My favorite scranimals were the Broccolions and the Bananacond...more
Kathryn
Prelutsky is one of those names I remember when I was a kid, one of those names which convinced me poetry is worth pursuing. I love poetry to this day and try hard to instill the same love in my children. Using Prelutsky to brain wash my kids into loving poetry is effective. They love this book, and in between hearing their admiration for the imaginative and fanciful mixed up creatures within these pages, I was not above slipping in the occasional "poetry is good. poetry is good. poetry is good"...more
Kacie Fincher
I thought that both the story and the illustrations for this book were very creative. The story is about a little boy and girl who go on an adventure to Scranimal Island. There all the animals are a mix between two things. There are Radisharks which are a mix between a radish and a shark. There are Hippopotamushrooms which are a mix between and hippopotamus and a mushroom. Children would love this book and would be very excited to see what kinds of creatures were next. This book could be used in...more
Jill
I would choose two stars because this book is just plain bizarre - but my kids loved it. Why is that? They fought over it at bedtime a few nights and took it in the car once or twice and poured over it here and there for a few days. The illustrations are interesting and sometimes a bit disturbing (spinchicken comes to mind) but the combination of animals with animals or animals with food as well as the funky word play were hysterical hooks for my kids. I liked the back cover best. However, I sti...more
Keli
Oct 31, 2008 Keli rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Ages 6-10
Synopsis

This book contains a series of poems that detail what can be found on Scranimal Island such as the fragrant Rhinocerose, speedy Ostricheetah and the sweet yet prickly Porcupineapple.

Review

The text in this book is a little long for a read-alone and the concepts might be a little confusing for younger kids. But it's very funny the way words are combined to create hybrid animals. This can help kids with phenome awareness. On each page, the scranimals name is spelled out phonetically. The la...more
Sabra
Prelutsky devises all manner of oddball animals by combining creatures with food or flora -- the very stupid Avocadodos, the awkward Spinachickens, the shy Pandaffodil and, my favorite, "the Detested Radishark":

In the middle of the ocean,
In the deep deep dark,
Dwells a monstrous apparition,
The detested RADISHARK.
It's an underwater nightmare
That you hope you never meet,
For it eats what it wants,
And it always wants to eat.

Its appalling, bulbous body
Is astonishly red,
And its fangs are sharp and glea...more
Lucia Benzor
He is such a great poet! As good if not better than his other work. Illustrations were so so creative and I have never seen any drawings like that before in any other book. The idea for this book is something kids themselves have thought of for years but Jack put their ideas to poetry which he does beautifully. A good writing assignment would be for kids to create their own and describe them or describe one, before reading the book, featured in the book.AMAZING!
Leslie
Clever poems about imaginary animals that are combinations of an animal and a plant--with cool mashup names. Sis' detailed illustrations that show a map of the island and a peek at the previous animal and next animal on the page of the current animal add to the enjoyment of this book
Stephanie Allen
A collection of poems describes a place known as Scranimal Island where typical animals cannot be found. Animals have been combined with food and other animals (Potatoad, Parrotter, etc). Students could come up with their own scranimal and write a poem about it.
Judi Paradis
My favorite poetry book! In this clever book, Jack Prelutsky scrambles animals with fruits, vegetables, birds, or fish to invent kooky new creatures. The drawings by Peter Sis are wonderful and kids will be inspired to invent their own scrambled creatures
Ashley Allen
This is a great book to use clue words and pictures to help figure out the animal which is being mixed. I would use it as a challege to my students to use context clues and picures to figure out the "Scranimal".
Caren
Jack Prelutsky combines a fruit/vegetable with an animal and gives it a new name. Kids love these. During poetry month, these books go quickly and we have 5 copies at our school.
Kaarin
May 09, 2010 Kaarin rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Tanya Safsten, Abigail Safsten
Clever and fun to read aloud. My nieces and nephews enjoy this book of poems and they like to make up their own scranimals as well. Tanya, this book made me think of you!
Alaina Sloo
Another great collection of Jack Prelutsky poems for reading aloud to kids, especially preschool to grade 2. Who could resist the hippopotamushrooms or spinachickens?
Meredith
I loved the whimsy of this book. The concepts were fun, and the pictures and poetry worked so well together. I particularly enjoyed the porcupineapple and the radishark!
Laura
Fantastical animal rhymes with fantastical illustrations. The radishark is my favorite. The children are fond of the potatoad and broccolions.
Sam
Of course the Bananaconda and the Pandaffodil are the best. And perhaps the Porcupineapple and the Potatoad. But the Cardinalbacore is just weird.
Alycia
My daughter was eight when she and I read this book together. The imagery in the poems is amazing. We still re-read from time to time.
Joelle
Such a clever, fun read! We loved this book so much. It lead to many conversations about different animals we could create.
Monica
I have used this book in a second grade class to inspire the students to make their own mixed up animals. I've used it in a middle school science class to explain how chunks of scientific words have meaning. Finally I've read it just because it has wonderful prose, great pictures and some words I even have to look up in the dictionary. Everyone 3-93 has a wonderful time figuring out what each animal is made up of. I still haven't figured out what the Stormy Petrelephant is supposed to be, but la...more
Heather
Fun & creative poetry book for children! We had a blast reading & laughing practically our whole way through!
Carol
Published:2006
Age Level: 6-14

This book is full of weird and wacky poetry. Jack Prelutsky is a great poet for children and weaves things with animals to make a crazy story.
Rachel
What do you get when you cross an avocado with a dodo bird? An avocadodo, and many other wild, wonderful, and hard to pronounce creatures from the unpredictable imagination of Jack Prelutsky. Peter Sis (as always) does a phenomenal job bringing these creatures to life with his illustrations. In each picture of the featured scranimal you get a hint of what's to come. Greatly imaginative book, but you may want to practice the pronunciation of some of the scranimals before reading aloud (and Prelut...more
Vickie
Jun 27, 2009 Vickie marked it as to-read
I am looking forward to reading this. I love Jack Pelutsky books and so do my students.
Mary Ellen
Read with Levi as a part of his poetry unit in English.
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What's The Name o...: SOLVED Half animal half vegetable children's book [s] 2 10 May 12, 2013 05:33pm  
Scranimals (Hardcover)
Scranimals (Hardcover)
Scranimals
L'isola di Bestierare (Hardcover)
Scranimals

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Jack Prelutsky is an American poet. He attended New York public schools, and later the High School of Music and Art and Hunter College. Prelutsky, who has also worked as a busboy, furniture mover, folk singer, and cab driver, claims that he hated poetry in grade school because of the way it was taught. He is the author of more than 30 poetry collections including Nightmares: Poems to Trouble Your...more
More about Jack Prelutsky...
The New Kid on the Block Hooray For Diffendoofer Day! (Dr Seuss) A Pizza the Size of the Sun Something Big Has Been Here The Random House Book of Poetry for Children

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