This is What a Slug Does - Mimi May - ★★★

AUTHOR: Mimi May

ILLUSTRATOR: Aniek Bartels

GENRE: Children's Nonfiction Picture Book

PUBLICATION DATE: June 23, 2026

RATING: 3 stars.

In a Nutshell: A picture book depicting one adventurous day in the life of a slug. Nonfiction that reads like fiction. Informative and funny. Needed a bit of tweaking in some textual portions. Some content might be tough to explain to the target age group. Could work for slightly older children who are interested in animals. Parents advised to read it first.

This informative picture book begins by introducing us to Simon the Slug and with a labelled diagram explaining his anatomical features – very useful. I like how there’s a pronunciation key for the tough body parts.

The main content covers one day in the life of Simon. Luckily (or unluckily) for us, Simon is having one heck of a day where he eats a lot, narrowly escapes being eaten, almost loses his head, meets another lovely slug to mate, nearly dries out, and so on, all within the timeframe of sunrise to sunset.

The information is presented in a light-hearted, conversational way, so it doesn’t feel like we are reading a nonfiction book. Little readers will learn plenty about slugs. At the same time, some of the content might not be easy for them to comprehend and could have been avoided. Case in point, the mating process.

Some of the scenes involve information that isn't completely clear. For instance, the initial drawing of a slug’s anatomy says that its “mouth is filled with rows of tiny sharp teeth” and a few pages later, the text says that “Simon doesn’t have teeth”. Only through the backmatter do we realise that both sentences are simultaneously true. Care should have been taken to avoid such apparent contradictions because we adults don’t always check the back matter before we read a book to our children and most of us aren’t equipped to answer questions about confusing slug anatomy!

Several other creatures also make an appearance in the story. Some of these might be unfamiliar to kids. (Are children aware of shrews or moles?)

The page declaring “Simon’s head is gone. Simon is dead.” made me gasp in horror. I already started planning a scathing rant about why such an inclusion was a stupid call to take for a picture book. Thankfully, the next page threw more light on the situation. Turns out, the text was “just kidding”; Simon didn’t lose his head after all. 🙄

(Note to Self: Don’t draft picture books reviews in your head till you reach the last page.

Note to Publishing team: Don’t scare kids like that! Sensitive children might burst out crying!)

The illustrations are quite cute, though it is tough to see Simon’s expressions at times. The watercolour-style colouring, done using ink and gouache, suits a story set in nature. Regardless of what I felt about the inclusion of Simon’s “romance”, I loved the graphic where he and his partner are framed in a heart-shaped leaf cluster – romantic, indeed! 😄 The only thing I didn’t like was how the slug’s teeth are present or absent at random even in the artwork.

As mentioned above, the backmatter of the book contains an interesting list of “Odd Slug Facts.” I loved this info but I think some of the terms are way too complex for the target age group.

On that note, Edelweiss lists this book as being for little readers aged 3-5. I think it’s highly unlikely that a three-year-old child will appreciate this nonfiction book for the facts it offers. The book might better serve kids aged 5-8 as it combines entertainment and education on a topic that might be of more interest to them.

This book is supposed to be the first in a new series of informative + humorous animal nonfiction for little animal lovers. Though this one didn’t exactly tick all the right checkboxes, I would be interested in seeing how this series develops as it does have tremendous potential.

Recommended, but I’d suggest the slug facts at the end be read by parents/guardians/teachers first so that they can clarify the doubts little readers might have while reading the main text.

My thanks to Publisher Spotlight and Post Wave for providing the DRC of “This Is What a Slug Does” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.