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Summary
Summary
Animals smooth and spiky, fast and slow, hop and waddle through the two hundred plus pages of the Caldecott Honor artist Steve Jenkins's most impressive nonfiction offering yet. Sections such as "Animal Senses," "Animal Extremes," and "The Story of Life" burst with fascinating facts and infographics that will have trivia buffs breathlessly asking, "Do you know a termite queen can produce up to 30,000 eggs a day?" Jenkins's color-rich cut- and torn-paper artwork is as strikingly vivid as ever. Rounding out this bountiful browsers' almanac of more than three hundred animals is a discussion of the artist's bookmaking process, an animal index, a glossary, and a bibliography. A bookshelf essential!
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-6-Jenkins draws from his earlier books to craft this richly detailed work with handsome cut- and torn-paper illustrations. Numerous animal facts are organized into seven topical chapters. A few extinct animals are included. Chapters offer information about animal families, senses, predators, defenses, and extremes, and about life from an evolutionary perspective. Material within each chapter is presented in segments that average two pages in length and consist of a descriptive paragraph, several colorful illustrations that vary in size, and detailed captions. Each chapter concludes with a related chart or graph. Some text in the "Timeline of animal life" is lost in the book's gutter, and the "How many eyes do animals have?" chart notes that wasps have five eyes but the corresponding illustration only shows four. Jenkins's artwork is recognizable from earlier works; for example, the giant squid eye and Siberian tiger spreads found in Actual Size (Houghton Harcourt, 2004) are replicated here. A lengthy alphabetically arranged, appended section includes even more animal details paired with tiny artwork. The book has a useful table of contents. Tucked between the glossary and bibliography, which includes materials published between 1951 and 2010, is a welcome section on Jenkins's bookmaking process. The closing page showcases the works from which material included here has been taken. With so much to look at, this attractive browsing book will fascinate children thirsty for animals facts. Students doing reports on a specific animal will need to consult other resources.-Lynn Vanca, Freelance Librarian, Akron, OH (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Jenkins compiles more than 300 animals, using a loosely encyclopedic format with sections covering topics like "Animal Extremes," "Predators," and "Animal Senses." Jenkins's always skillful use of cut- and torn-paper animal artwork appears throughout (several images comes from his earlier books), while factually detailed captions describe each subject, resulting in a vibrant juxtaposition of science and art. Fascinating creatures and characteristics abound: "Most deep-sea creatures cannot see red light. But the spotlight loosejaw can detect it, and it is the bizarre fish's secret weapon." A colossal squid's eye (shown actual size) fills an entire spread, and Jenkins closes out the book with sections on the history of life on earth, additional animal facts, and a discussion of how he goes about creating books. In showcasing the riches and peculiarities of the natural world, Jenkins offers plenty to seize (and satisfy) readers' curiosities. Ages 6-10. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
While this might look like yet another animal encyclopedia (albeit handsomer than most), chock-full of "fun facts" and better browsed than read, Jenkins has given us something much more thoughtful and coherent. Beginning with a section defining the word animal and surveying the animal kingdom as a whole (97% invertebrates--who knew?), the book then covers "Family," "Senses," "Predators," and "Defenses, a logical and comprehensive structure to give a shape to such a large topic. A section on "Animal Extremes" does provide the kind of Guinness Book facts kids love to hoard, but even here science, not trivia, is paramount: "Being small can offer real advantages to an animal. It doesn't need as much food as a big animal, and it's easier to hide from predators." The concluding section, "The Story of Life," explores the single fact that underlies the entire book: "All life on earth--past and present--is descended from a microscopic single-celled organism, similar to modern bacteria, that lived more than 3?1/2 billion years ago." The paper-collage art throughout is distilled from Jenkins's many previous books, but this is no clip job: each image--from a red-eyed tree frog jauntily balanced on a vine dog-earing a crisp white page to a full-bleed spread of a Siberian tiger's face--serves the book's purpose. (In that old Dorling Kindersley problem, however, scale is inconsistent.) Charts and graphs throughout are as intriguing as the animals themselves; an index of the featured animals is pretty much brilliant, including not just page numbers but size, habitat, and diet; also appended are a glossary, bibliography, and a wonderfully illustrated and diagrammed outline of how Jenkins makes his art and books. roger sutton (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Building on years of experience in selecting animal facts and creating arresting illustrations, Jenkins surpasses his previous work with an amazing album characterized by clear organization, realistic images and carefully chosen examples. The thoughtful, appealing design will both attract browsers and support those looking for specifics, but this also provides a solid introduction to the vast animal kingdom. After a chapter of definition, information is presented in sections on animal families, senses, predators, defenses, extremes and the story of life. More facts appear in the final chapter, which serves both as index (with page numbers and thumbnails) and quick reference. Most spreads have an explanatory paragraph and then a number of examples, each with an animal image and a sentence or two of detail set on white background. These cut- and torn-paper illustrations have realistic color and features: eyes that look at readers, teeth that amaze, and tiny legs, whiskers or feelers. Some are actual size or show a close-up portion of the animal's body. Sections end with a jaw-dropping two-page image; chapters end with charts. Jenkins fills out this appealing celebration with a description of his bookmaking process. With facts sure to delight readers--who will be impatient to share their discoveries--this spectacular book is a must-purchase for animal-loving families and most libraries. (glossary, bibliography) (Nonfiction. 5 up)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* The author of more than 30 books about the natural world offers here a compendium of the animal kingdom arranged in thematic chapters touching on family, senses, predators, defenses, extremes, and evolution. Chapters (signaled by colored tabs running along page tops) contain multiple spreads addressing subtopics (for example, the topic of Family breaks down into Attracting a Mate, Eggs, and Born Alive). Each of these sections includes a brief introduction and multiple captioned illustrations, and the chapters close with an infographic that summarizes the section's most important points. As always, Jenkins' cut-paper collages are a highlight and demonstrate great use of vibrant color, attention to detail (particularly sizes), and an overall sense of design. The back matter is rich as well; the index of animals contains thumbnail illustrations and notations about size, habitat, and diet, while an appended section on Making Books explains Jenkins' process from ideas and research to illustrations and publication. Much of this artwork has appeared previously, but it is repurposed to superb effect, with new captions and organization. This is a beautiful book that belongs in most collections; it will engage browsers for hours, and the many textual features make it an excellent choice for classroom curricula.--Weisman, Kay Copyright 2010 Booklist