The awesome book of animals by Adam Frost

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Bloomsbury, 2017. ISBN 9781408885130
(Age: 6-12) Recommended. Themes: Animals. Information book. This small format book with full-page colour and infographics relates well-researched facts and anecdotes that will fascinate most people who open it. All the information is given within a context or as part of a comparison so each fact is meaningful and relevant. There are facts of every kind: disgusting, funny, little known and unbelievable, many related as a short anecdote. There are animal comparisons (how much water do animals need to drink each day?), facts related to interaction between humans and animals (examples of people being eaten alive and surviving) and strange but true facts (there is a fish that climbs trees and breathes air). The snippets might even get children curious to research further (as I felt the need to find out about more about it raining raw meat in Kentucky, USA!).
This will especially appeal to lovers of The Guinness book of world records and Ripley's Believe it or not as well as being great for visual learners and high interest, low ability readers. Children will love exploring the book alone or as a group, exclaiming in disbelief and then sharing these (mostly useless) titbits with all their friends and family. A clever way to get children excited about reading and learning.
Nicole Nelson

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