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by Steve Jenkins
Published 2013
HMH Books for Young Readers
Hardcover 208 pages
Disclosure: Copy obtained from library
I have seen many people talking about this book over the last several months, but I have not really been interested in reading it. It seemed to me like it was another "animal encyclopedia" and I thought it would be boring. I don't normally love reading nonfiction and I hardly ever read them in their entirety. After I saw another mention of The Animal Book last week on a friend's blog, I decided just to give it a glance. I ended up reading it cover to cover.
The Animal book is like "one-stop shopping" for animal information. Inside, the reader will find information on animal families, reproduction, adaptations, lifespan, Darwin's theories, predators, prey and a ton more! To top it all off, Jenkins' signature illustrations add more information and support the text beautifully.
I learned a lot, but here are a few of my favorite facts.
- The tailorbird used her beak, plant fibers or spider web silk to sew a leaf closed after laying her eggs in it.
- There are more species of insects than all of the other species combined.
- A baby blue whale can gain 200 pounds in a day.
- Peregine falcons practice "stooping" or attacking prey by flying to it from above, with their siblings, pulling up at the last minute to avoid hurting each other.
Of course there are also plenty of gross animal facts that will delight young readers. A glossary, extra info section and lots of charts and graphs help add to the information.
Steve Jenkins has been informing young (and not-so-young) readers for years. Click here to visit his website. I had fun just moving the curser over the animals on the home page, but the rest of the website is nice also.
talks about creating his book.
I loved this book, too, Gigi! The video is fascinating!
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ReplyDeleteHi, this was a great book to share. I really enjoyed the video too.
ReplyDeleteMary-andering Creatively
I think this is Steve Jenkins' finest book to date. Everything he does is amazing.
ReplyDeleteI will have to check this one out!
ReplyDeleteI am loving this book. My children and I read it a few nights each week - just a few pages at a time. We are learning a lot. I am a huge Jenkins fan.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a great book!!! It will be interesting to see how we can get it in with the new science standards! I'm hoping some close readings of pages will be on the horizon :)
ReplyDeleteHope everyone is on the mend at your house!!