This poor little unsuspecting town was visited one day by a VERY hungry...thing. They know he's hungry because of the sign he wears around his neck, but when they ask him what he wants he yells nonsense! Things like "Schmancakes!" "Tickles!" or "Crackeroni and Sneeze!" The adults in town all think they have the answers and come up with even more nonsensical answers to what this creature wants. The children are the voices of reason and wind up deciphering the wants of this visitor. The townspeople feed the new kid all of the things he craves and he leaves the town satisfied and with a great big, "Thank You!" on his sign. Not to mention a town full of new friends.

Reprint. ( )

I have reached middle age, but when I go to my parents' house for dinner, my mom still tells me she is making "featloaf." :) ( )

With a "Feed Me" sign around it's neck, a Hungry Thing tells the townspeople want he wants to eat; however, they don't quite understand him. Shmancakes...tickles...feetloaf... what could they be? As they try to decipher his words, one little boy comes to the rescue and decodes the Hungry Thing's requests.

This book is a great choice when teaching phonemic awareness, as it gets children thinking about the sounds that make up words. ( )

The Hungry Thing was a book that was meant to teach rhyming to children. The funny part about literature is that when teaching it to kids, grammar and spelling don't have to always be correct in order to get the concept across. In this book, words are made up on purpose in order to get the children rhyming. Over the course of the story the towns people try to figure out what the hungry thing wants to eat and accommodate him, the little boy is best at guessing the "rhyme words." Overall a very cute, humorous children's book. ( )