Almost Gone: The World's Rarest Animals (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science 2) - Hardcover

Jenkins, Steve

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060535989 ISBN 13: 9780060535988

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2006

Synopsis

Read and find out about endangered animals in this colorfully illustrated nonfiction picture book.

Have you seen a northern hairy-nosed wombat or an eastern barred bandicoot? These animals are so rare, they might disappear forever, and they're not alone. Read and find out about some of the animals that are almost gone.

With gorgeous art from Caldecott Honor-winning artist Steve Jenkins, "this engaging title is informative as well as visually stunning." (School Library Journal starred review)

This is a clear and appealing science book for early elementary age kids, both at home and in the classroom. It's a Level 2 Let's-Read-and-Find-Out, which means the book explores more challenging concepts for children in the primary grades. The 100+ titles in this leading nonfiction series are:

• hands-on and visual
• acclaimed and trusted
• great for classrooms

Top 10 reasons to love LRFOs:

• Entertain and educate at the same time
• Have appealing, child-centered topics
• Developmentally appropriate for emerging readers
• Focused; answering questions instead of using survey approach
• Employ engaging picture book quality illustrations
• Use simple charts and graphics to improve visual literacy skills
• Feature hands-on activities to engage young scientists
• Meet national science education standards
• Written/illustrated by award-winning authors/illustrators & vetted by an expert in the field
• Over 130 titles in print, meeting a wide range of kids' scientific interests

Books in this series support the Common Core Learning Standards, Next Generation Science Standards, and the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) standards. Let's-Read-and-Find-Out is the winner of the American Association for the Advancement of Science/Subaru Science Books & Films Prize for Outstanding Science Series.

About this title

About the Author

Steve Jenkins wrote and illustrated many nonfiction picture books for young readers, including the Caldecott Honor Book What Do You Do with a Tail Like This? His books have been called stunning, eye-popping, inventive, gorgeous, masterful, extraordinary, playful, irresistible, compelling, engaging, accessible, glorious, and informative.

From the Back Cover

Thousands of animal species have vanished in the last two centuries, and many others, like the Amur leopard, are almost gone.Read and find out about the world's most fascinating endangered animals ... before they disappear!

On the cover:

Amur Leopard
Siberia (Russia), China and Korea
Fewer than 40 left

This solitary hunter is the rarest of the big cats. It lives in the dense forests of one small section of northeast Asia, where it hunts rabbits, badgers and deer. The Amur leopard is a good swimmer and climber, and often hides its kill in trees. It can weigh as much as one hundred fifty pounds and has a thick fur coat to help it survive in cold, snowy weather. Illegal hunting and habitat destruction have greatly endangered these leopards.

Reviews

Starred Review. Kindergarten-Grade 3–This engaging title is informative as well as visually stunning. Jenkins captures the essence of his subjects with appropriately colored, cut-paper collage illustrations on stark white backgrounds. Each endangered animal is introduced in a single paragraph that typically contains a fact or two about its range, behavior, diet, and those conditions that threaten its welfare. The actual number remaining is poignantly noted. A middle section, Gone Forever, memorializes animals no longer on Earth with an indication of when they were last seen. In a hopeful third section, Jenkins discusses the Indian crocodile, whooping crane, and Alpine ibex, three animals that are coming back, due to the efforts to protect their habitats. All the animals included in this book are numbered and appropriately placed on a double-page world map. Those who have enjoyed Patricia Mullins V for Vanishing (HarperCollins, 1997) or Alexandra Wrights Will We Miss Them? (Charlesbridge 1991) will definitely gravitate toward this offering. Report writers may need more extensive information but the beauty of this book justifies its inclusion on most library shelves.–Gloria Koster, West School, New Canaan, CT
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Gr. 1-3. Caldecott Honor Book illustrator Jenkins applies his considerable talents to the cause of conservation in this book in the long-running Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science series. Using his signature cut-and torn-paper collages, he shows 21 endangered species, accompanying each image with a few sentences about the animal's habitat, a particular characteristic, and, sometimes, the reason for its endangered status. The art is not to scale, but Jenkins often works in text references to give kids an idea of relative size: a Yangtze River Dolphin "may grow to be eight feet long"; an Assam rabbit weighs "four or five pounds." As usual, Jenkins' artwork is fascinating. His papers, apparently handpainted, are carefully matched to catch subtle variations of an animal's skin or a sense of the shagginess of its coat. The last spreads consider four extinct animals and three species brought back from the brink by breeding or protection programs. A map designating the range of each species concludes this nicely accomplished entry in a generally stellar series. Stephanie Zvirin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0060535989
• ISBN 13: 9780060535988
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Jenkins Steve
• Number of pages: 40