A Mink, A Fink, A Skating Rink: What Is A Noun? (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition) [School & Library Binding]

Brian P. Cleary (Author), Jenya Prosmitsky (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up

FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. This clever book can be used as a lesson on nouns, or just a fun read-aloud for any age.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

While this book may appear to be little more than a list of nouns, the witty zeal it brings to the task of enumeration makes this basic concept seem like plenty. Cleary indulges his fondness for wordplay (evident from such previous titles as Give Me Bach My Schubert) in the humorous, wide-ranging subjects that show up in the text, its cadences reminiscent of jump-rope songs: "If it's a train, or brain, or frown,/ It's elementaryAit's a noun"; "London, Levis, PekineseA/ Proper nouns name all of these." Colored type highlights the nouns within the verse, which winds around the pictures in a bouncy typeface. For her first children's book, Prosmitsky introduces a cast of goofy-looking cartoon cats with round bodies and giant, flaccid noses. The challenge of illustrating such a random list results in gleeful, nearly nonsensical scenes: the two images for the lines "The pope, some soap that's on a rope,/ A downtown mall, a downhill slope" show a small black cat, rigid with fear, getting soaped up beside a portrait of the pope on the shower wall juxtaposed with a snowscape of cats and their bags sliding down a slope after shopping. Certainly one of the least serious grammar lessons imaginable, this book will convince kids that nouns are everywhere. Ages 7-9. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

Grade 2-4-Using a combination of humorous rhymes and silly illustrations, Cleary attempts to define nouns. He adheres to the traditional definition, stating, "If it's a person,/place, or thing-/Your dad, Detroit,/a diamond ring,/If it's a boat or coat or clown,/It's simple, Simon,/it's a noun!" Nouns are highlighted in color throughout the text, making it easy for readers to identify them. The rhyming sentences are short and breezy, though some sound awkward: "The pope,/some soap/that's on a rope,/A downtown mall,/a downhill slope." While proper nouns are mentioned, possessives, plurals, and compound nouns are not. The bright illustrations appear to be rendered in colored pencils and crayons, providing both detail and humor. A variety of comical-looking cats are depicted on backgrounds splashed with sea blues, lime greens, and lovely lavenders. Libraries looking to build up their 400s section could consider this introductory title, but Ruth Heller's Merry-Go-Round: A Book about Nouns (Grosset & Dunlap, 1990) is a stronger choice.
Lisa Gangemi Krapp, Rockville Centre Public Library, NY
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• School & Library Binding: 32 pages
• Publisher: Turtleback (September 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0613438507
• ISBN-13: 978-0613438506
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,271,531 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Brian P. Cleary is the creator of the best-selling Words Are CATegorical® series, now a 16-volume set with more than 2.4 million copies in print. He is also the author of the Math Is CATegorical® series and several single titles including The Laugh Stand: Adventures in Humor and Rainbow Soup: Adventures in Poetry.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All Primary Teachers Could Use This!, October 25, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: A Mink, a Fink, a Skating Rink: What Is a Noun? (Words Are Categorical) (Hardcover)

As a teacher of third graders, I've used this book and "Hairy, Scary, Ordinary: What is an Adjective" to teach and delight my students, and to take some of the tedium out of parts of speech. Within a day or so of introducing these books, all 27 of my group knew the difference between the major parts of speech. We found out that Mr. Cleary has a website, and I printed out some word-building worksheets off it for free, and a took away a couple of suggestions on how integrate teaching nouns with a fun art project, called the noun quilt, in which each letter of the alphabet has a noun, as in B, BOOT, C, CAT and the students draw the item and eventually it becomes this big old paper quilt full of nouns. His publisher assures me that TO ROOT, TO TOOT, TO PARACHUTE: WHAT IS A VERB? will be in soon, and it's a no-brainer that I'll get that as well.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Mink, A Fink, A Skating Rink: What is a Noun?, May 22, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: A Mink, a Fink, a Skating Rink: What Is a Noun? (Words Are Categorical) (Hardcover)

Funny, silly, but slyly (if that's a word) educational, A Mink A Fink A Skating Rink: What is a Noun? will do for grammar what "Columbus Sailed the Ocean Blue in Fourteen-hundred ninety-two" did for social studies. Kids can't help but remember which part of speech a word is because of the clever rhymes. My second graders find the illustrations wonderful as well. Cleary's first series includes great teaching tools like "Jamaica Sandwich?", which is really a 4th-5th grade combination Geography/English lesson.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Mink, a Fink, a Skating Rink : What Is a Noun?, April 21, 2000

By 

K. Shipley (Exeter, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Mink, a Fink, a Skating Rink: What Is a Noun? (Words Are Categorical) (Hardcover)

This is an exciting, well illustrated, fun book to read! This book is one of the favorite picks in my third grade classroom. The students enjoy reading the story over and over again. Thumbs up for the fabulous idea of teaching language through exciting stories!