mammals

Lesser Spotted Animals by Martin Brown

| Tasha

Lesser Spotted Animals by Martin Brown.jpg

Lesser Spotted Animals by Martin Brown

This book doesn’t include any koalas or bears or bison or tigers. Instead it’s full of mammals who tend to be ignored. In fact, I guarantee that there are animals here that you’ve never even heard of! All of them are amazing but for very different reasons. There’s the Cuban Solenodon, an insectivore with a poisonous bite. There’s the impossible to find and count Sand Cat who lives in the deserts of Africa and Central Asia. There’s the stinky Zorilla who can be smelled up to a mile away. Turning the pages of this book is a journey of discovery that is just right for any kid tired of the same old popular animals and up for a look at truly wild animals.

Brown’s tone in the book is masterful. He uses humor perfectly, creating moments of asides that made me guffaw aloud. This is one of the rare nonfiction animal books for children that you won’t mind reading aloud, even multiple times! It is full of fun facts, interesting tidbits and then that zing of humor that makes it entirely enjoyable. Brown picks his animals carefully, offering just the right amount of detail on each animal and then moving on merrily to the next.

Brown’s illustrations contribute to some of the best humor in the book. He uses images that are similar to mug shots of the various animals to show their similarities and differences to more familiar animals. He also uses comic-like speech bubbles and frames to create silly asides that add immensely to the appeal.

A delight of a nonfiction book about animals, here’s hoping that it’s the first in a series. Appropriate for ages 7-9.

Reviewed from ARC received from Scholastic.

 

Review: Born in the Wild by Lita Judge

| Tasha

born in the wild

Born in the Wild: Baby Mammals and Their Parents by Lita Judge

Explore different baby mammals from around the world in this nonfiction picture book.  Learn about how different animals function when they are born, polar bear babies are tiny and are kept safe for months before going outside while giraffes are born ready to run right away.  Baby animals eat in different ways too.  Baby bears nurse, baby wolves learn to eat meat quickly, and other animals eat grass and drink their mother’s milk.  Other subjects like protection and shelter are examined as well as grooming, moving from place to place, and what their families look like.  This book is a celebration of the diversity of mammals on the earth and all of the ways in which they are loved and cared for as they grow. 

Judge offers just enough information on each animal to make the book readable.  She gives intriguing glimpses of each animal before moving on to the next.  It’s a fast paced book that merrily jumps from one animal to the next.  More in-depth information on each of the featured mammals can be found at the end of the book. 

Judge’s art is exceptional.  Her animals are filled with personality.  The baby mammals look straight out at the reader at times, their parents’ eyes are filled with love, and there is a tangible joy to each of the images.  The cuteness factor could have been unbearable, but instead it’s perfect, just the right amount of cute and wild mixed together.

A great choice for smaller children who love animals, this book is gorgeous as well as informative.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from copy received from Roaring Brook Press.