Platypuses, Gila monsters, bobcats and polar bears are some of the 14 families of animals featured in author-illustrator team Jennifer Ward and Steve Jenkins's Mama Dug a Little Den (Mama Built a Little Nest). Using stunning collage, lively four-line poems and paragraphs that provide greater depth, Ward and Jenkins describe how animal parents (most often the mothers, as explained in the author's note) dig or find "holes, dens, and burrows" to ensure survival.
All of the poems are in large print, most beginning with the same words as the title, and all using the same easy-to-read-aloud meter and rhyme scheme, reminiscent of "Mary Had a Little Lamb." Further information is included in smaller text on the same spread. For example, the large-type poem on the Gila monster double page spread reads: "Mama dug a little den/ to hide out from the sun--/ since baking in the desert/ isn't fun for anyone!" The mottled red-and-blue reptile with a big forked tongue is pictured popping out of its sandy burrow, shaded by a cactus with sharp thorns. The smaller print explains that, while many of the animals spend short periods of time in their dens, the Gila monster always stays in a burrow, coming out only when the Sonoran Desert temperature cools a bit. Jenkins's visually exciting collages use painted and textured papers, and each spread features different perspectives, some depicting just the parent animal, others including several animals, such as the polar bear mama and her two cubs, cozily inhabiting their den, "a cave of sparkling snow."
Mama Dug a Little Den has exactly the right amount of text for the read-aloud audience as well as interesting details and an author's note that will encourage older kids to do more research and direct observation. --Melinda Greenblatt, freelance book reviewer