Skin Like Milk Hair of Silk

In Skin Like Milk, Hair of Silk: What Are Similes and Metaphors? (Words Are Categorical)Brian Cleary continues his Words are CaTegorical series with a study of similes and metaphors.

I have been a fan of Cleary's for a while because he provides parents and teachers with accessible picture book resources to teach, introduce, reinstruct, and entertain children regarding a range of English language topics.

I thought the introduction where Cleary explains the difference between similes and metaphors was strong. I think children will be drawn to the cartoon illustrations throughout the book. I thought the similes were better chosen than the metaphors. I do think many authors choosing to create these books would benefit from picking some similes and metaphors that most children would know and then broadening the choices to introduce new ones.

I was less impressed with the metaphors chosen for this book. I think children would understand the construction of similes from the examples chosen, I think the metaphor examples were less clear. I would have started with more obvious and familiar choices and then moved to more obscure choices.

I continue to be impressed by the move to publish picture books on English Language topics. Parents and teachers have a wide range of choices to use with children of all ages.