NSTA Review of Amazing Land Animals and Marine Superstars

Hungry Tomato has a new series called 'Animal Bests', authored by John Farndon and illustrated by Cristina Portolano.  The two books I reviewed are 'Marine Superstars' and 'Amazing Land Animals'.  These two were fun to read.  Both books focused on animals' 'amazing abilities' or 'super senses' rather than dubbing them survival strategies.  The books in the series are geared toward children in grades 3-6 as nonfiction.  The writing is clear and cogent; it's not surprising that Fardon has been short-listed four times for the Royal Society's Young People's Book Prize.  'Marine Superstars' has fascinating facts.  I knew some turtle species eat jellyfish; I didn't know blue ocean slugs eat Portuguese Man of Wars (p. 31). My college Zoology would have been much more interesting had I know that sharks play dead (p.20) or that sepia came from cuttlefish ink (p. 21).  I love the way Farndon explains symbiosis as 'making allies' (p. 24) and includes a food web (p.27).  'Amazing Land Animals' introduces the book with 'a taste of how amazing land animals lanyard, before we even get to the really clever stuff', and has a few interesting facts to lure children into the book.  Teachers could launch their lessons by choosing an animal fact.  For instance, (p.9) 'Jumbo Da Vinci' is the title of a paragraph about elephants who paint.  Wouldn't children want to jump online to see examples or find out how much their paintings cost?  Teachers could tie a math lesson about speed to the cheetah (p.6), which can attain speeds of 121 kilometers per hour.  My favorite classroom pet is a rat; 'Amazing Land Animals' has two pages (pp. 20-21) dedicated to facts about rats, including how rats can detect land mines without detonating them.  Who knew?  The best aspect of both books?  It made me want to learn more.  Wouldn't a child ask, 'What else can a dolphin or elephant do?'  Perfect.  The illustrations support the texts well.  My favorite is the tiger (p. 30) swimming underwater, making it easy to imagine it snagging a crocodile.  Children value scientific accuracy along with interesting facts.  These two books deliver.  Both 'Amazing Land Animals' and 'Marine Superstars' are exactly the type of books for curious naturalists.  My only quibble is the price; at $26.65 for a hardback, few classrooms can afford their own copy.  However, libraries should consider buying these books.  They'll fly off the shelf.  My ten year old neighbor couldn't wait to get her hands on my copies.