Review: The Animal Book

When I was young I loved looking at pictures of animals, and I devoured books that told me about them. Today I have a book that my son devoured that I wanted to share with you called "The Animal Book". 

 This is a a really neat book, just packed full with information about animals, telling us where they live, what they eat, endangered status (or not), more.  We learn about a variety of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects and invertebrates.   Some of the animals we are very familiar with (like the horse), others are common (like the lion) and yet others are new like the indian pangolin, cat flea and the desert locust.

 Most pages are single pages, but the some animals are given a two page spread.   There is always an artistic drawing of the animals, combined with images of actual animals, and various facts about them. 

Each animal has a key facts section.  As you can see we learn pertinent facts, diet, name, and their status from a conservation aspect.

The facts in the Animal book at so interesting, did you know the brown bears can eat 40,000 moths for dinner, or that rattle snakes are born live, that pigeons can be trained to find cancer cells, or that scorpions glow under ultraviolet light?   Astounding isn't it?

What else can I tell you about The Animal Book.  It covers 118 animals and contains a clearly laid out table of contents where the animals are divided into areas of the world. 

Each section opens with a map, giving a brief geography lesson.  A small map shows where in the world each area is found, and we learn such things as natural landmarks, general land qualities and such like.   It's a brief look.

The book closes with the question "what happens next?"  Asking questions about the animals learned about and helping the reader ponder, what do we do now?   Included are some steps we can take to help take care of these animals that share the world with us.

The Animal Book
Author: Ruth Martin
Illustrator: Dawn Cooper
Lonely Planet Kids
164 pages
hardcover
Ages 8-12 years
Type: Geography, science, nature
 
Reviewed for: Raincoast Books. 

My thoughts:
 I like this book. :)  It is a fascinating look at a good selection of animals from all over the world, covering all the different animal groups (other than the microscopic).  Toss in some geography lessons, and some social studies.  This book could easily be start of a unit study on animals from around the world, added to a continent study or part of a presentation on taking care of the animals on this planet.
 
Where can you find it?
Amazon.ca: The Animal Book.
Amazon.com:  The Animal Book.

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