Ants Don’t Wear Pants! – my 5th Giggle & Learn title from TOON Books. Publication date: Sept 10, 2019.
Giggle and Learn is the series title for my natural history comics for kids published by TOON Books. First came We Dig Worms! (2015), The Real Poop on Pigeons (2016), Something’s Fishy (2017) and Snails are Just My Speed (2018). All are designed by the great Françoise Mouly, art editor of The New Yorker magazine.
I’ve had some wonderful experiences visiting schools. Behind the Book brought me to PS 21 in Brooklyn. Mrs. Horrack’s class wrote their own book about garden helpers. They planted a garden of pansies in the schoolyard and released a bucket of earthworms to help that garden grow.
We Dig Worms! “One of the 10 best graphic books of 2015″- School Library Journal .
The New York Times wrote: “One of Toon’s stylish comics-inflected early readers, this paean to the worm is a winning combination of facts and gross-out fun.”
Publisher’s Weekly added, “McCloskey comes not to bury worms (they can handle that themselves) but to praise them in a guide that manages to be reverent in its irreverence.”
The Real Poop on Pigeons! is “Another feather in McCloskey’s cap! ” – according to a starred Kirkus Review. “Funny and informative, this attractive work of graphic nonfiction offers emerging comics readers an intriguing look at a commonly dismissed and ignored animal.”-School Library Journal
Something’s Fishy
The blog Mom’s Read It says,” I love the trend of graphic novels as nonfiction texts, and Kevin McCloskey’s work for young readers and listeners are among some of my favorites. We Dig Worms and The Poop On Pigeons are in constant rotation at my library, and I can’t wait to introduce kids to fish with Something’s Fishy.”
“With easily digestible doses of biological and historical background, common-sense cautionary notes, and a buoyant tone, this is an appealing dive for newly independent readers out to enhance the household menagerie.” Kirkus Reviews.
SNAILS ARE JUST MY SPEED: “Savvy educators will appreciate the book’s versatility: It would be the star of an intimate gross-book-themed storytime…or may be used as the inspiration for a pre-K lesson plan on anything from wildlife and nature to gardening to body fluids. Overall, a fun read and a smart selection for any elementary nature shelf.”
–Kirkus Reviews
School Library Journal put my Snails book on their 2018 list of Top Ten Graphic Books for children.
More info on my books can be found at TOON books website.
I have visited schools in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, California and Washington, D.C. Hope to visit many more. My books are geared for pre-K to 3rd grade. Frankly, those grades get the most from my presentations. With older students I can talk more about the process of writing and illustration. Sometimes I bring a bucket of worms and stage a worm race. That really wakes a school a up!
I still teach illustration at Kutztown University, but I manage to make time for school visits. So, if you want to arrange a school visit, please get in touch: moonpennypress@gmail.com. I will get back to you with details. Thanks for stopping by!
Illustration Concentration 