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In a Patch of Grass

David Antenborough narrates this picture-book send-up of a nature documentary, sounding just like the real-life David but with six limbs for his trademark gesticulations. Director Steven Spielbug tries to keep the cast of characters on task, but it’s worse than herding cats: The orb-weaving spider would like to eat one or two other actors; the grasshopper is a diva; the worm is too busy munching dirt to emerge from the ground on cue; the robin has called in sick and fails to show up for the predation scene; and the slug is too embarrassed by his slime to perform. Then filming is interrupted by a wuffling noise and a foul-smelling hurricane as Fido the dog sniffs his way through the grass and onto the set. The panicked actors flee at top speed (which is not very fast in the slug’s case), but the intrepid Antenborough continues narrating, Spielbug keeps directing, and they bring the film to a dramatic conclusion. Despite the chaos—or maybe because of it—we learn some things about these animals, and the backmatter gives more nature facts. But the main object is pure fun.
Fran Hodgkins is the author of more than 30 books for young readers, including The Whale Scientists (a Junior Library Guild selection) and How People Learned to Fly. Her book The Secret Galaxy (Tilbury House, 2014) was a Junior Library Guild selection and a California Reading Association Eureka Gold Award winner, and both it and Thump Goes the Rabbit (Harper, 2020) are Bank Street Best Children’s Books of the Year. She has always been fascinated by small things that live in the grass. Visit her at franhodgkins.net.

Dan Tavis is the New York Times bestselling Illustrator of Noodle and the No Bones Day. Dan has been doodling since his first math class in elementary school and was inspired to paint upon discovering Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes comic strip. He is also the illustrator of Common Critters (Tilbury House, 2020), The Whale Fall Café (Tilbury House, 2021; a Junior Library Guild Selection), and Good Eating: The Short Life of Krill (Tilbury House, 2022; a Junior Library Guild Selection and an AAAS/Subaru Book Prize for Excellence in Science finalist). Dan creates illustrations with watercolor, ink, and digital media. Visit him at dantavis.com.