Sunday, August 8, 2021

111. The Secret Life of The Sloth


The Secret Life of The Sloth. Laurence Pringle. Illustrated by Kate Garchinsky. 2021. [April] 32 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: Perezoso (peh-reh-ZOH-soh) swims. She swims across a narrow river to reach a place in the rain forest where she knows there are tree leaves she likes to eat.

Premise/plot: The Secret Life of the Sloth is creative nonfiction. Instead of presenting general facts about sloths, Pringle has chosen to name a particular sloth (Perezoso) and create a story about her life, packing her personal story with facts. It isn't all that different from some styles of animal/nature documentaries. It almost, almost feels anthropomorphic.

My thoughts: The narrative style isn't my favorite or best. But reading is so subjective. I do love sloths and I can't deny that this one is informative enough even if it does try to make it into a STORY with a beginning, middle, and end. I do like how the ending parallels the beginning. The last sentence is, "Perezoso swims."

I did find the illustrations beautiful.

 

© 2021 Becky Laney of Young Readers

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