November 1, 2021
Grades 1-3 After covering adorable and disgusting creatures in Cute as an Axolotl (2018) and Gross as a Snot Otter (2019), Keating finds 17 more unusual animals to introduce, this time based on their large size. Using the same tried-and-true layout, this book utilizes double-page spreads with a full-page color photo, a lighthearted description, fast facts (e.g., size, diet, and habitat), and an amusing cartoon-and-fact combo, such as a capybara (the biggest rodent) dining on its own poop for more nutrition. The other large creatures span the animal world, from the atlas moth, with wing tips that resemble snake heads to scare off predators, to the elephant seal, which can inflate its one-and-a-half-foot-long proboscis to make itself look menacing, to the African giant snail, which is so invasive a species that it will munch on stucco walls of people's homes. To spotlight each animal's size, the author compares it with an average 6-inch banana (e.g., a moose is 14 bananas in height), while a concluding section displays size-representation visuals. These huge animal profiles offer enormous appeal.
COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
January 1, 2022
K-Gr 3-Keating and DeGrand present awe-inspiring critters who defy readers' expectations about size. According to a funny, helpful scale, the snail on the cover is one banana long, but children will groan over the picture of it resting on someone's palm, or maybe delight in it. The blue whale is 200 bananas long, and a moose can be 14 bananas high, towering over humans at 10 feet tall. In this highly accessible book, the photos use cars as a scale, comic inset drawings to hammer home points, and fonts of different colors and sizes to keep things moving along. The facts are given in sidebars, while back matter includes an accessible glossary and a reiteration of scale for understanding-that atlas moth is the size of a dinner plate! VERDICT This work fits into so many lessons, from endangered species to climate change and habitat preservation, that's it's hard to imagine a collection that would not benefit from having it on its shelves. Funny, fast-paced, and full of information.-Kimberly Olson Fakih
Copyright 2022 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.