You Stole My Name
Dennis McGregor
Blue Star Press

Through stunning illustrations with details meticulously painted and four lined poems, Dennis McGregor introduces readers to sixteen pairs of animals that share names but not anatomy..

Similarities and/or differences are highlighted, depending on which animal voice is speaking. Thus, fish and fowl share rainbow hues but the parrotfish that speaks flies through the sea whereas the parrot it addresses flies through the skies, something the fish envies.

In contrast, the Cowbird comments in alliterative style, ‘Fashion choices I prefer / feature feathers over fur.’ when talking to the black and white cow upon whose back it perches.

In the opening poem the Kangaroo and the kangaroo rat have much in common and so the marsupial doesn’t mind that the little rodent shares its name. Turn the page and thereon the chicken is rather less enthusiastic about sharing her name with the predatory chicken hawk.

Next, addressing the catfish through the glass of its tank, a moggy comments somewhat resentfully thus: ‘You don’t meow or even purr. / You have no paws, you have no fur. / I guess it’s whiskers we can blame / for the stealing of my name.’

A book that will appeal most to both art lovers and animal enthusiasts from around seven years old.