The Animal Book: A Collection of the Fastest, Fiercest, Toughest, Cleverest, Shyest―and Most Surprising―Animals on Earth - Hardcover

Jenkins, Steve

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 054755799X ISBN 13: 9780547557991

Publisher: Clarion Books, 2013

Synopsis

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!

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

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, OHα(c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

*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. Grades 1-5. --Kay Weisman

Edition details

• Publisher: Clarion Books
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 054755799X
• ISBN 13: 9780547557991
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Jenkins Steve
• Number of pages: 208