Biggest, Strongest, Fastest - Hardcover

Jenkins, Steve

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0395697018 ISBN 13: 9780395697016

Publisher: Clarion Books, 1995

Synopsis

Caldecott Medal winner Steve Jenkins explores the world’s largest, slowest, and longest-lived creatures in this informational picture book that proves science can be a whole lot of fun.

What is the biggest land animal? What animal runs the fastest? Can elephants really eat more than 300 pounds of grass each day?

Dive into this fascinating book that introduces fourteen members of the animal kingdom who hold “world records” for their astonishing traits. Young readers will find easy-to-understand comparisons, helpful charts, and a guide to where these amazing animals can be found in the wild.

Made with his award-winning cut-page collage illustrations, this educational and entertaining book from Steve Jenkins brings the fascinating facts about our natural world alive.

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.

Reviews

Kindergarten-Grade 2?Large, clear print; fascinating facts; and beautiful, detailed, cut-paper collages make this excellent title a delight. One main fact is presented per spread about each of 14 animals, e.g., "The Etruscan shrew, the world's smallest mammal, could sleep in a teaspoon." Two more relevant facts are given in smaller print. Silhouette drawings show comparative sizes?the blue whale is shown next to an adult human. The realistic, inventive, textured illustrations, mostly double spreads, flow smoothly from page to page. A helpful chart at the end contains further information about each creature, such as diet and habitat. An all-round superlative effort.?Jan Shepherd Ross, Dixie Elementary Magnet School, Lexington, KY
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Ages 4-9. Beautiful double-page-spread cut-paper collages illustrate a picture book about "some of the biggest and smallest, fastest and slowest, strongest and longest" record holders in the animal world. The facts are amazing. Their juxtaposition makes you gasp, not just about size and speed but about comparative wonders. Right after the African elephant, which eats more than 300 pounds of grass and leaves every day, there's a close-up two-page picture of an ant, which turns out to be the strongest animal for its size: it can carry five times its own weight. The book's design makes it accessible at many levels. The youngest can identify the various creatures. Preschoolers can enjoy the one-sentence descriptions in large type ("The cheetah can run faster than any other animal. . . . The flea is very small, but it is the world's best jumper"). Older kids will love thinking about the additional facts regarding scale and proportion that are printed in small type, accompanied by a tiny silhouette in the corner of each picture ("If a 5 1/2-foot-tall woman could jump as well as a flea, she could leap to the top of a 65-story building"). Here's proof that power isn't just about size and that science can be a lot of fun. Hazel Rochman

Edition details

• Publisher: Clarion Books
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0395697018
• ISBN 13: 9780395697016
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Jenkins Steve
• Number of pages: 32