The Animal Book: A Collection of the Fastest, Fiercest, Toughest, Cleverest, Shyest--and Most Surprising--Animals on Earth (Boston Globe-Horn Book Honors (Awards))
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.