A Mighty Bitey Creature by Ronda Armitage - OPTIONAL

A Mighty Bitey Creature by Ronda Armitage, illustrated by Nikki Dyson.  PICTURE BOOK Candlewick Press, 2017.  $16.  9780763698782  

BUYING ADVISORY: EL (K-3) – OPTIONAL  

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE  

A little green frog is bitten on his bottom and as he goes through the jungle warning other animals of something that bites, that mystery something bites them too.  All the animals go to the lion, because he is the king of the jungle.  When the lion is also bitten he uncovers a bush baby and the only reason it’s biting everyone is because it’s hungry, so the lion feeds it. 

I liked how the mystery builds up as to what is biting everyone.  I also liked the illustrations because they are bright and the confused animals’ expressions helps build the tension.  Once I found out it was just a hungry baby animal it was kind of disappointing and it would have been more fun if there were clues in the illustrations of the bush baby.  I thought it was going to be a flea or something small, because the animal isn’t shown at all until the lion finds it.   

C. Peterson