The Ugly Five
- Brand: Unbranded
Description
Their faces are pointy with strange-looking snouts, and their tusks aren’t exactly pretty. Then there’s their leathery skin which is peppered with exactly the wrong amount of coarse hair. The Ugly Five’’ is a lovely book that combines some hidden education with an uplifting story. The narrative is a simple one; you meet a particular creature and observe their features and then they meet another similarly ugly pal. This goes on until the titular five are together. If this had been the entire plot, the story would have been too dry for most young people as there is almost an educational quality as you learn about the animals. However, this is not all the story. The surprise ending of the book is what makes it and leaves you feeling all warm inside as everyone is pretty to someone. However, much like the marabou storks, vultures have a crucial role to play in nature. They’re respected members of Africa’s ‘ clean-up crew’ for their ability to keep our wildlife reserves tidy. The book is about the animals known on safari as the Ugly Five - the cosmetically challenged companions of the more famous Big Five (lion, leopard, rhinoceros, buffalo and elephant). They are the wildebeest, warthog, spotted hyena, lappet-faced vulture and Marabou stork.
Curiously, warthogs are omnivorous, meaning they can eat both vegetation and meat. Their diet consists mostly of grass, bulbs, and roots, but they will occasionally scavenge for meat scraps. Who would have thought? An Unsightly Summary of The Ugly 5 The Ugly Five’ (2017) is a short, lovely, simple but effective and affecting story – the latest from the accomplished team of writer Julia Donaldson and Axel Sheffler – who provides the usual and wonderful illustrations to accompany the compelling rhyming words of Donaldson. Tell a hyena that it’s ugly and it will probably ‘laugh’ in your face. In all honesty, they’re not terribly unattractive.The book asks a variety of questions which also encourage children to join in and the book introduced me to animals I had not heard of before like the Marabou Stork. Hyenas can adapt to almost any habitat and are found in grasslands, woodlands, savannas, forest edges, sub-deserts, and mountains. Would this be a good book to read aloud to the class or would it be good for Shared or guided reading?
One of my television songs, A SQUASH AND A SQUEEZE, was made into a book in 1993, with illustrations by the wonderful Axel Scheffler. It was great to hold the book in my hand without it vanishing in the air the way the songs did. This prompted me to unearth some plays I’d written for a school reading group, and since then I’ve had 20 plays published. Most children love acting and it’s a tremendous way to improve their reading. I really wanted to like this book, but I just didn't. It did have a more musical chorus throughout that could be used maybe with a beat to help it along, but I just couldn't get into it. I didn't like the concept--even though the book tries to redeem it at the end--and it just felt too long. Maybe someone would appreciate the musicality of it, but it fell flat for me. Before Malcolm and I had our three sons we used to go busking together and I would write special songs for each country; the best one was in Italian about pasta. Fortunately for them, they got a friendlier portrayal in The Lion King. Most people think of them as the loveable, slightly daft ‘Pumbaa’.Which, in Swahili, actually means ‘to be absentminded, careless, foolish, ignorant, lazy, stupid, and negligent’. It is easy to overlook smaller creatures while on a safari as we are normally on the lookout for the famous Big Five game animals, but this isn’t Africa’s only famous collection of animals to be seen. Allow us to introduce to you Africa’s less glamorous animals, the warthog, hyena, marabou stork, vulture, and the wildebeest, also, unfortunately, known as The Ugly Five. Although these animals aren’t eye-catching, they all have something unique and fascinating to offer.Think about how the different animals move. Could you try to recreate these movements? Could you put together a dance or a performance to show these movements? Donaldson’s story does not quite have the high level of imagination that we have come to know, but this does allow Scheffler’s illustrations to shine even more than usual. Fans of his work will already know the style and it is reflected again here. The bonus is that Scheffler is drawing real wildlife and he does it brilliantly. The Ugly Five are all given a personality, whilst still not being the most pretty to look at. They’re perhaps the most infamous scavengers of all, and they’re very good at what they do. In fact, they clear up to 70% of the carrion in Africa, helping prevent the spread of disease in animals and humans. 3. Wildebeest Mason wanted some superheroes in the story, whereas Michelle thought: “It was fun. I liked when they found their babies and the stork who pooed on his legs.” This time the story is about some animals in the Savannah who are, shall we say? Less than attractive.
There would be lots of ways to incorporate The Ugly Five into teaching. It would fit beautifully into any topic work on Africa or animals, particularly looking at how animals are suited to their habitats and the idea of food chains - both the vulture and the hyena are seen scavenging - and also how animals grow. The name ‘warthog’ doesn’t scream ‘ good looking’. And there’s no hiding the fact that they’re rather ill-favored in the beauty department. I got the idea for this book when I was on a safari in South Africa. We had just spotted a herd of wildebeest. I grew up in a tall Victorian London house with my parents, grandmother, aunt, uncle, younger sister Mary and cat Geoffrey (who was really a prince in disguise. Mary and I would argue about which of us would marry him). The hyena also has some peculiar proportions, with all the strength loaded in their forequarters (and jaw), and the weak-looking hindquarters seemingly added as something of an afterthought. The size of a hyena’s clan can dictate the size of a kill or scavenge. A hyena clan can range in size between 12 and 24 hyenas. Some clans are even larger than this.
This book sits on two nerves and therefore loses a star. Nominated for the Washington State Children's Choice award, this book requires that the students know about he Big 5 and possibly the Little 5 and therefore the Shy 5. It also requires that the librarian endures rhyming couplets and the kids endure her singing the sing song verses... not winning me over. These requirements are really just my needs. Located In the south of Tanzania, Nyerere National Park is a vast, wild reserve – larger than Switzerland – with just a scattering of small camps. Still, it pains me to say it, but I thought it was ever so slightly dull. I just don’t think it is destined to be a classic.
Just like the marabou stork, vultures tend to have bald, scabby looking heads. Often with unfortunate skin folds, and sometimes with unsightly, exposed ears. Their preferred habitat is open grasslands, with their renowned seasonal migration being an optimised survival strategy giving them access to and use of resources over huge areas, minimising over-grazing during both wet and dry seasons. Donaldson crafts poetry that is fun to read, changing things up to introduce each animal and then welcome into the growing group. I need to find someone to read this out loud with. I can see reading this with a data projector so that the kids can sing along with me. Some sources single out the lappet-faced vulture as the vulture’s representative in the Ugly 5. Although most of Africa’s 11 vulture species could make the cut – none are blessed with particularly good looks.I really enjoy writing verse, even though it can be fiendishly difficult. I used to memorise poems as a child and it means a lot to me when parents tell me their child can recite one of my books.
- Fruugo ID: 258392218-563234582
- EAN: 764486781913
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