{"id":33229,"date":"2017-08-03T22:30:22","date_gmt":"2017-08-04T02:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=33229"},"modified":"2017-08-03T22:30:22","modified_gmt":"2017-08-04T02:30:22","slug":"review-of-lesser-spotted-animals-by-martin-brown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=33229","title":{"rendered":"Review of Lesser Spotted Animals, by Martin Brown"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Lesser Spotted Animals<\/p>\n

The Coolest Creatures You\u2019ve Never Heard of<\/em><\/p>\n

by Martin Brown<\/p>\n

Scholastic, 2017. First published in the United Kingdom in 2016. 53 pages.
\nStarred Review<\/p>\n

Martin Brown is the illustrator of the Horrible Histories books that my son loved when he was younger. And this book has the same wit and wisecracks.<\/p>\n

The Introduction explains the philosophy of the book:<\/p>\n

Fed up with the same old animals? Had enough of hippos? Bored with bears? Tired of tigers? Do you want animals that are fresh, new, and exciting? Try Lesser Spotted Animals,<\/em> a book about the wonderfully wow wildlife we never get to see. There are thousands of different animals in the world \u2013 big and small, common and rare \u2013 but most books show you just a slender selection of those thousands. And it\u2019s the same slender selection over and over again. It\u2019s time for a book that\u2019s different \u2013 without the same ho-hum, run-of-the-mill creatures we\u2019re served day in, day out. No pandas, elephants, or zebras here \u2013 this is a book about the world\u2019s other<\/em> animals.<\/p>\n

Everyone\u2019s heard of the koala \u2013 so cute and gray and fluffy \u2013 a nature superstar. And if it ever became extinct we would cry and weep and wail. But what about the pika<\/em>? Hmm? It\u2019s cute and gray and fluffy, too. Would we cry and weep and wail if it vanished forever? How could we? No one\u2019s ever heard of it. Why? Because all the books are full of koalas \u2013 and lions and tigers and all the other usual, regular celebrity creatures we always see\u2026.<\/p>\n

Discover all the amazing beasts you never knew you needed to know about, because it\u2019s good-bye to the gnu and cheerio to the cheetah, say hi to the hirola and nice to meet you to the numbat . . .<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

After that, there are descriptions of twenty-three animals you probably never heard of, including a box with information about their size, what they eat, where they live, and their endangered status, plus some bonus facts.<\/p>\n

Most of the illustrations have humorous speech bubbles somewhere, and the whole tone is light-hearted. I think my favorite page was the \u201cCrabeater Seal: The world\u2019s not-rarest seal,\u201d coming as it did after the \u201cHirola: The world\u2019s rarest antelope.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the first paragraph, we\u2019re told that crabeater seals don\u2019t eat crabs, because there are none in the Antarctic where they live. (They eat krill.) Then we\u2019re told this:<\/p>\n

However, the really important thing about crabeater seals is that they are probably the most numerous large animal you\u2019ve never heard of. There are something like 200,000 brown bears in the world, 600,000 bottle-nosed dolphins, and roughly 700,000 common zebras. But sitting on the ice and swimming in the cold southern sea there\u2019s somewhere between ten and fifteen million<\/em> crabeater seals. So why don\u2019t we know about them? Because bears go RAAAH and zebras look dashing and dolphins do backflips. The poor crabeater is a dull, pale browny-gray color. It can\u2019t jump and it doesn\u2019t chase its prey in thrilling, TV-friendly fashion. It doesn\u2019t even eat crabs! But there are, by far, more crabeater seals on Earth than any other large wild mammal. SO THERE.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You get the idea! If you have children who enjoy knowing obscure facts, this book is sure to win them over. Learn about such creatures as the Cuban Solenodon, the Zorilla, Speke\u2019s Pectinator (\u201cLittle Gray Ratty Thing Is: THE PECTINATOR\u201d), the Gaur, and the Onager.<\/p>\n

Lots of fun, and informative, too.<\/p>\n

scholastic.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Childrens_Nonfiction\/lesser_spotted_animals.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

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