Duck's Breath and Mouse Pie: A Collection of Animal Superstitions

by Steve Jenkins

Whimsical collages illustrate and interpret seventeen animal superstitions, including the beliefs that it is bad luck for a black cat to cross one's path, but that throwing a hairy caterpillar over the left shoulder brings good luck.

47 pages, Hardcover

First published August 15, 1994

About the author

Steve was born in 1952 in Hickory, North Carolina. His father, who would become a physics professor and astronomer (and recently his co-author on a book about the Solar System), was in the military and, later, working on science degrees at several different universities. We moved often. Steve lived in North Carolina, Panama, Virginia, Kansas, and Colorado. Wherever he lived, he kept a menagerie of lizards, turtles, spiders, and other animals, collected rocks and fossils, and blew things up in his small chemistry lab.

Because he moved often, Steve didn't have a large group of friends, and he spent a lot of time with books. His parents read to him until he could read himself, and he became an obsessive reader.

His interest in science led me to believe that I'd be a scientist himself. At the last minute, he chose instead to go to art school in North Carolina, where he studied graphic design. After graduation he moved to New York City, where he worked in advertising and design, first in large firms and then with his wife, Robin Page, in their own small graphic design firm. Robin, also an author and illustrator, is his frequent collaborator — they've made sixteen children's books together.

Their daughter Page was born in 1986 and our son, Alec, two years later. They began reading to them when they were just a few months old, and Steve became interested in making children's books himself. My wife and I read to our two older children almost every night until hisdaughter was 12 or 13, long after they were reading on their own. It was, in many ways, the best part of the day.

In 1994 they moved to from New York City to Boulder, Colorado, where they work in a studio attached to their house, which was built in the 1880s and often functions as if it were still the 19th century.

Their youngest son, Jamie, was born in 1998. The questions his children asked over the years have been the inspiration for many of their books.

Librarian's Note: There is more than one author with this name in the Goodreads database.

Reviews

[Seok Hyeon]

It was funny that the book introduce superstitions with pictures and different writing way. The letters are not written in normal way, it differs by each animal by the animal's feature. I was impressed by the way story is written. On the back, there's the explaination of the superstitions, so the book is also useful to adults.

[Jen]

not his best illustrations, although I like the peacock feather the best. This book has interesting superstitions that I had never heard of. The additional info in the back is ideal for those who might want the flexibility of a shorter book.

[Danielle Smith]

Interesting superstitions explained.