Silly Tails

by Jan Mark, Tony Ross (Illustrator)

Why is it that no one has ever heard vegetables talk? You see, it all started back in the days when the vegetables lived in a vegetable garden on the opposite side of a hedge from a band of rabbits who lived peacefully munching grass. The carrots were particularly obnoxious and could not refrain from hurling insults at the rabbits. What happened next supplies the long-awaited answer. Full color.

Genres: Picture Books

32 pages, Hardcover

First published April 30, 1993

About the author

Janet Marjorie Mark (1943-2006) was a British children's author and two time winner of the Carnegie Medal. She also taught art and English in Gravesend, Kent, was part of the faculty of Education at Oxford Polytechnic in the early 1980s and was a tutor and mentor to other writers before her death from meningitis-related septicaemia.

Meet the author:

What is your favourite animal?
The noble rat

What is your favourite boy’s name?
George

What is your favourite girl’s name?
Marjorie

What is your favourite food?
Pickled herring

What is your favourite music?
Klezmer

What is your favourite hobby?
Listening to music

Reviews

[Stuart]

Beautifully illustrated - a great piece of imaginative fiction; ending is somewhat odd but wonderfully silly. I would assume appropriate for ages 4-7.

Could be used as a model for creative writing around using stories to answer questions, somewhat similar to fables. Potentially input for an art lesson, perhaps maths.

[James]

I'm not a fan of books where sentient characters get eaten by other characters.

[The Brothers]

A kind of fable about why veggies don't talk (hint: carrots were real jerks to rabbits).

Illustrations are kind of goofy, but fun.