Leaping Lemmings!

by John Briggs, Nicola Slater (Illustrator)

Overview

Think before you leap! Lemmings look alike, they sound alike, and they act alike. So if one jumps off a cliff, the others will jump right after him . . . except Larry. Larry’s very independent-minded and he won’t follow his fellow lemmings blindly to their doom. But can he teach them to use their brains and stop making terrible group decisions? John Briggs has created a wonderfully funny, quirky tale about staying true to yourself, while Nicola Slater’s witty illustrations capture all the humor and pathos of Larry’s situation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781454918196
Publisher:	Sterling Children's Books
Publication date:	09/06/2016
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	410,514
Product dimensions:	8.90(w) x 11.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	AD500L (what's this?)
Age Range:	3 - 18 Years

About the Author

John Briggs is a longtime reporter and editor who once spent three years as a children’s TV critic. Today, he happily writes books for children. A native of Philadelphia, John currently lives in upstate New York, where he has never, ever jumped off a cliff.

Nicola Slater is a professional illustrator and a semi-professional coffee drinker. She studied illustration at Buckinghamshire Chilterns University and now lives and works among utter chaos in Manchester, England, with her family and a very bad cat, which she is planning to trade in for a lemming.

Editorial Reviews

Larry is different from the other lemmings. While ‘all the other lemmings look alike, sound alike, and act alike,’ and will gladly follow their friends to jump off a cliff, Larry is different. Taking the road less traveled, Larry sleds with puffins, plays bongos, and orders pepperoni pizza with extra cheese and hot sauce. The lemmings call a meeting to determine if all lemmings should be the same. The response from the Arctic rodents is a resounding ‘yes.’ Larry knows he doesn’t fit in, so—attempting the impossible—Larry lives with the seals, moves in with the puffins, and even visits the polar bears. When Larry returns home, he has to find a way to save the other lemmings before they jump off a cliff. Briggs and Slater join forces to create a comedic retelling of the lemmings ‘jumping off cliffs’ myth. Hilarious storytelling is coupled with equally hilarious scenes laced with a litter of orange critters arguing and complaining about the odd duck among them. Sure to be storytime favorite.” —Booklist online

From the Publisher

11/01/2016
PreS-Gr 2—One lemming in Briggs's picture book story stands out from the others because he dresses and behaves differently than the rest of the group. He doesn't tunnel in the winter. He sleds with the puffins instead. He doesn't dive off cliffs and squeal. He snorkels and plays bongos and stands out in every lemming crowd. Most important, he is not afraid to speak his mind. He even screams it. When he sees that his friends are in danger, he uses his lemming thinking and his leadership qualities and helps them think for themselves over a pepperoni pizza with extra cheese and hot sauce. Children will have fun searching for Larry the lemming on the digital cartoon spreads. But he is easy to find because he's either dressed up or doing the opposite of what the others are engaged in. Briggs also plays with the age-old parental question, "If all your friends jumped off a cliff, would you?" VERDICT This funny storytime read-aloud teaches children that it's OK to think independently and to be a little unconventional.—Tanya Boudreau, Cold Lake Public Library, Alta.

School Library Journal

2016-06-22
Lemmings aren't exactly known for their anti-establishment nonconformity, except for Briggs' Larry, or is it Mary?Lemmings live up north, up on a tundra colored in Slater's lovely swaths of pistachio green, ballpark-mustard yellow, and tangerine orange. Living in this particular slice of the Arctic is a lemming that also happens to be an odd duck. "Call me Larry," he informs his indistinguishable mates. "What's a Larry?" asks one lemming. "I hear he wants to be called Mary," says another. In the accompanying illustration, Larry is wearing a grass skirt, lei, and hibiscus behind one ear. (If this is meant to open an inquiry into gender identity, it's not pursued.) Larry just doesn't cotton to the lemming way of life: burrowing, eating moss, jumping off cliffs en masse. So he tries life with his other friends: the puffins, seals, and polar bears. But the seals are too noisy, the puffins live on cliffs, and the bears appear to be sizing Larry up for lunch (some friends). So it is back to the lemmings, now merrily running toward the cliff's edge. This can't be good, no matter the genetic impulse, thinks Larry, so he bolts to the front and steers them clear of the wayward impulse by leading them to his cabin, where they eat pepperoni pizza. No more "Follow the Leader"—now it's "Follow the Larry." Lemmings, evidently, never learn. Despite the alluring artwork, this is a half-baked tale. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews

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