What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?
This animal quiz book presents a body part and asks the reader to guess what it belongs to. It's built on a repetitive, predictable pattern that turns every page turn into a game a child can win.
What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? by Steve Jenkins is estimated to take about 6.5 minutes to read aloud (471 words, about 1 sentence a page), and it lands best with children aged 3-8.
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- Estimated read-aloud time
- about 6.5 minutesEstimated read-aloud time
- Word count
- 471Counted words
- Sentences per page
- 1Sentence per page
- Re-read tolerance
- 5/5still good at forty
- Vocabulary level
- 3/5a few new words
- Best for
- Ages 3-8Our editorial fit
Our review
The structure is perfect for preschoolers who love to predict and participate. Each animal gets two pages of focus—one for the question and one for the answer—which keeps the momentum steady.
It's an excellent tool for teaching basic animal facts through a fun, interactive format. Children usually find it very satisfying to guess correctly every time.
Themes
- animals
- body parts
- guessing
- nature
- first facts
Books like What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?
Matched by refrain, density, length, and listener—not just the subject.
Questions parents ask
How long does it take to read What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? aloud?
About 6.5 minutes at an unhurried pace, including a standard allowance for page turns, pictures and participation, from a word count of 471. Stopping for a longer conversation on every page will add more time.
What age is What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? actually for?
Ages 3-8 in our testing, which is narrower than the publisher's range. With 1 sentence a page and vocabulary at 3 out of 5, it asks for that much attention span and no more.
Does What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? survive being read on repeat?
Yes - this is one of the few that is still fine on the fortieth reading, which is why it scores 5 out of 5 with us.
Is What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? a good book for a child who will not sit still?
It helps that it has a refrain a child can join in with, and it asks the child questions to answer out loud. Those three features are what keep a wriggling toddler listening, far more than the subject matter does.
Will my child memorise What Do You Do With a Tail Like This??
Probably, and fast. The book leans on a repeated refrain, and at 5 out of 5 for re-read tolerance it survives the nightly repeats that get a book memorised. Expect your child to chant the pattern back before they can actually read.
Can a beginning reader read What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? on their own?
Not yet. At vocabulary level 3 out of 5 and 1 sentence a page, it is a read-aloud book rather than a first solo read. Read it to them now, and hand it over in a year or two.
What themes does What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? cover?
We tag it with animals, body parts, guessing, nature and first facts. Those are the threads that actually run through the book, not just the ones on the cover, which is how it earns its place on our themed lists rather than a keyword match.
Lists What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? is on
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