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Author:
Robert Snedden
Publisher: Raincoast Books
Product: Book series (32 pages)
Ages: 9 and up
Cost: $10.95 each |
From an egg-laying platypus
to the flying bat, What is a Mammal dishes the dirt on our relatives.
We have a lot of common characteristics, including hair, but we differ
in lots of ways too. Find out how some mammals stay cool—the
fennec fox uses its big ears—and how some get around. The flying
squirrel can glide for almost 400 metres!
When you’ve learned enough about mammals,
move on to amphibians. In What is an Amphibian, you can meet dancing
salamanders and egg-toting male toads. Like mammals, amphibians have
common characteristics, but many of them are unique. Frogs and toads,
for example, have the best hearing of all amphibians. They also use
different calls to communicate with each other, even about the weather.
Finished with the watery world of amphibians? Other books in the series
include What is a Reptile, Insect, and Fish. |
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Reviewer: Justine Nakazawa
Age: 9
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The books definitely looked inviting. For instance,
I love frogs and they were featured on the cover of What is an Amphibian?
Also, I don’t know many amphibians and I wanted to know more
about them. The topic was interesting too, because I love animals
and the more I can learn about them the better.
One of the things I liked most about the
books were the pictures of all the animals. For example, rats look
very cute. Why don’t people like them? I really liked the
cover of What is an Amphibian?—when you open up the book,
it makes one big picture of two frogs across both covers (front
and back). What I enjoyed the least were pictures of animals eating
other animals. I just hate to see animals getting killed, especially
when they are young.
I learned some thing from the books. The
horns of a rhinoceros, for example, are made up of very tightly
packed hair. I had lots of fun reading too. I was sort of amazed
by some of the information. The author, however, should have given
more examples under some of the topics.
Overall, I think the books would be good
in the school library for people working on projects. Out of a score
of 10, I give the books a 9. The three words I would use to describe
the two books are: fantastic, brilliant, and colourful.
(Originally published in the May/June
2003 issue of YES Mag.)
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