An-Animal-a-Month: All creatures great and small
In January, I like to start the year off by scouting for books focused on multiple animals, instead of just one species. These books often focus on a theme that unites the animals. For instance, Jess Keating features pink animals in her book Pink is for Blobfish, while Melissa Stewart features animals that estivate in her book Summertime Sleepers. This year I’m excited to share a title that’s unique because it shares not only weird and wonderful facts about the animals but also about the researchers who study them. Questions unite all the researchers and their subjects.
Click on the book covers to find more information about each title.
Looking for an engaging and truly unique science book? This title fits the bill, and it’s a finalist for the 2024 AAAS/Subaru Middle Grades Science Book Award (winners are announced in February). I love how author/illustrator Brooke Barker includes a diverse cast of researchers with plenty of women and minority scientists. She helps readers relate to these scientists by sharing their favorite animals and inspirations from childhood. Barker also focuses on the what, why, and how of each researcher’s project, along with weird things the researchers must do in the line of duty. Animal facts, such as diet, predators, and habitat , round out each section. Humorous dialog and cartoon-like illustrations keep the pages turning. Ages 8-12.
Kind of nonfiction: A mix of types – part graphic nonficiton novel, part expository, part narrative, and browsable.(My categorization using Melissa Stewart’s 5 Kinds of Nonfiction.) It’s browsable in that the pages about each of the 17 animals and scientists stand on thier own and could be read in any order.
Ties to Next Generation Science Standards:
3-LS2-1 (Construct an argument that some animals form groups that help the members survive.) The section on meerkats shows that they live in groups and join forces to stay safe. The section on crows shows how they tell one another about friendly and dangerous humans to help the flock stay safe.
4-LS1-1 (Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.) Readers will find numerous examples of vital structures: meerkats’ tails help them stand up to look out for predators; bees have pollen-collecting hairs as well as pollen sacs and combs to clean pollen from their antennae; crows big brains help them remember friends and foes; gars have tough scales and big skeletons to protect them from predators; sparrows have air sacs near their lungs to help them breathe; lizards hide from predators using camouflage; white-tailed deer flash their white tails to show speed, as well as using their sight and hearing to stay away from hunters.
4-LS1-2 (Use a model to describe that animals receive different types of information through their senses, process the information in their brain, and respond to the information in different ways.) The section on dogs shows how they take in and combine information from both their eyes and ears to pay attention and interpret human emotions.
Three more titles featuring multiple species: