Author: Martin Brown
Illustrator: Martin Brown
© Date: 2017
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Pages: 53
Chapters: No
Illustrations: Every page has some sort of illustration
Publisher Recommended Age: 7-10
Bonus Activities at End of Book: A glossary and description of the IUCN animal population status.
Summary from Book:
From the back of the book: It’s time for some bold new stars to hit the big time in the animal kingdom.
From inside the book jacket: Bison? They’re banned! Tigers? Taboo! Say good-bye to the gnu, cheerio to the cheetah, and peace to the panda.
The world of Lesser Spotted Animals STARTS HERE!
Find out all about the coolest creatures you need to know but never get to see, from the numbat to the zorilla, and everything in between.
Martin Brown’s wonderfully funny and fact-tastic writing, teamed with his fabulous illustrations and wisecracking jokes, is a winning combination.
Note: This review is done from memory. I originally read this awhile ago.
Page Pig Thoughts: We loved learning about all of the lesser known animals, but we super appreciated all of the humor throughout the book. After reading about these animals, the names are more familiar when we have seen a few of them elsewhere. Without this book, I would not have been so excited to see a banded linsang photo in a Joel Sartore PhotoArk calendar. Hooray for a book that makes you giggle and brings an appreciation for all sorts of animals.
Family Unit: Some animals may have a description of family/group units, I got a bit distracted by the funny illustrations when I tried skimming for facts.
Conflict/Social Issues:
- Mentions issues that create animal population decline.
- Mentions animals fighting with their own kind.
Positive Items:
- Gives fun facts about each animal that bring interest and intrigue to each one.
- Humor is woven into all parts of the book, even the glossary.
- The illustrations are detailed enough to give a good idea of what each animal looks like, but also allows humorous cartoon additions.
Items of Interest:
- All sorts of animals that we had never heard of before. Only mammals are included.
- Mentions solenodon’s venomous saliva that runs into its bitten prey.
- Mentions the super stink of the zorilla.
- Includes an illustration of a dunnart with a foot of some critter hanging out of its mouth.
- Mentions that the sand cat populations are thought to be declining and in danger, but we just don’t know for sure. They barely leave a trace in the desert sand, you can’t even find their poop.
- Mentions a cattle disease that plummeted hirola numbers. Then they struggled with habitat loss, hunting, and the occasional war or two. Now local communities are helping save the remaining animals.
- Mentions that a langur is on the edge of extinction, but are still being killed for traditional medicines and trapped for illegal pet trade.
- Mentions hirola males competing with each other.
- Mentions how the discovery of a dead black-footed ferret led to the discovery of a small population of the ferrets that seemed to be extinct.
Other Books in Series (At Time of Posting):
- Even More Lesser Spotted Animals: More brilliant beasts you never knew you needed to know about — Same fun fact and humor style. Every bit as fun with new lesser known animals.
