Stink Fights, Earwax, and Other Marvelous Mammal Adaptations

Description

Age range 6 to 9 A nonfiction picture book about the incredible power of bizarre adaptations to keep mammals alive and thriving! In Stink Fights, Earwax, and Other Marvelous Mammal Adaptations, children learn how lemurs settle arguments and how earwax helps a whale's sense of hearing, along with a host of other deliciously strange-but-true tales! The lively conversational tone used to deliver information on the unique adaptations of many different mammals engages a child's sense of wonder while introducing the crucial concept of adaptation. A haiku poem at the beginning of the book offers a language-based entry into science details. A great choice both as a read aloud and for early readers who are curious about science. Stink Fights, Earwax, and Other Marvelous Mammal Adaptations, is part of a set of five books in the Picture Book Science series that explore strange-but-true tales of adaptation. Other titles in this series include Water-Walking, Sidewinding, and Other Remarkable Reptile Adaptations; Antifreeze, Leaf Costumes, and Other Fabulous Fish Adaptations; Spit Nests, Puke Power, and Other Brilliant Bird Adaptations; and Sunscreen, Frogsicles, and Other Amazing Amphibian Adaptations.

Laura Perdew is an author, writing consultant, and former middle school teacher. She has written more than 20 books for the education market on a wide range of subjects, including wetlands conservation, the history of toilets, pirates, and extinction. Her book Biodiversity: Explore the Diversity of Life on Earth (Nomad Press, 2019) earned a Booklist starred review and was a Junior Library Guild selection. Laura is a long-time member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, an avid runner and hiker, and an environmentalist. She lives and plays in Boulder, Colorado. Katie Mazeika is an illustrator with a focus in children's publishing. She loves creating illustrations with a strong narrative that are filled with color and texture. Katie is the illustrator of the Picture Book Biography series from Nomad Press. Katie is a member of the SCBWI.

Green Teacher Magazine There comes a time as an adult when you can pick up some children's books and enjoy learning something NEW! The two books Antifreeze, Leaf Costumes, and Other Fabulous Fish Adaptations and Stink Fights, Earwax, and Other Marvelous Mammal Adaptations both taught me something! (I did not know, for example, that Blackspot Tuskfish use tools to get their meals or that whales have earwax that actually helps them hear.) The author, Laura Perdew, does a wonderful job keeping the facts about adaptations simple but still scientific. The illustrator, Katie Mazeika, does a fabulous job of providing big, bright colors to help get the message across. I also appreciated the glossary and "Activity Time" pages in the back of the book that help reinforce the topics that were covered. Archimedes Notebook Fun New Series on Animal Adaptations Let's face it: animals are cool! And most kids I know love to read about animals. What's even better than a book about animals is a whole series of books about strange and wonderful animal adaptations. Laura Perdew has written a whole bunch of books - well, at least five - about animals and their unique adaptations. They are fun and breezy, and a perfect way to introduce young children to the different classes of vertebrate animals: reptiles, birds, mammals, amphibians, and fish. Perdew introduces readers to unsung heroes of the animal world: star-nose moles, blue-footed boobies, and thorny devil lizards. She sings the praises of salamander slime and whale earwax. In addition to highlighting animals and their adaptations, Perdew begins each book with a poem. There's an acrostic, a limerick, haiku, cinquain, and free verse. Back matter for each book includes a glossary and activity that helps kids (and anyone else) learn more about the group of animals. Booklist Series Nonfiction Showcase Through layered, mischievous illustrations and detailed back matter, the Picture Book Science series plies young readers with a ton of useful facts about how all sorts of animals have evolved to survive in their environments. . . Stink Fights delves into the weird, wide world of mammal adaptations, which includes whale earwax plugs, star-nosed mole sniffer sensitivity, and everything in between. . . Each book contains a hands-on activity that will get kids involved; the mammal volume even points out that human beings are mammals, too, and encourages students to consider their own place in their ecosystems. Classroom-friendly and fun, too. School Library Journal K-Gr 3-This entertaining science title highlights unique adaptations of 14 mammals. Following a few introductory pages, each animal is given a two-page spread. Animal profiles feature a simple topic sentence or fact rendered in a playful font. Brief paragraphs with smaller-size text offer additional information. A couple of descriptions seem subjective, such as the sentence discussing the southern elephant seals: Like sloths, southern elephant seals may look like a bunch of large, lazy bums--with funny noses--when they are on shore. In the water, though, they move like a torpedo. Discussion questions encourage readers to contemplate animal adaptations beyond the text. In the section on bats, readers are asked, How would you like to sleep upside down to make it easier to get out of bed? Mazeika's illustrations use an anatomically correct but cartoon style. The animals are depicted as happy, serene, or playful. For example, the bats are drawn with softened facial features and smiles. Each animal appears in its natural habitat; the various environments showcase a nature-inspired palette. Back matter includes simple activities, facts, and a glossary. -VERDICT Enjoyable, light reading for browsers and fans of animal nonfiction. A good addition to classroom libraries. Praise for Biodiversity by Laura Perdew Booklist Starred Review April 1, 2019 Nomad applies its dependable activity-book format to the new Build It Environmental Science series (4 titles). Here biodiversity is placed under the microscope--sometimes literally--in a text that makes daunting concepts, such as evolution, levels of biodiversity (genetic, species, or ecosystem), and why biodiversity matters, easy to understand without sacrificing scientific precision. By book's end, readers will truly understand what biodiversity is, its importance to the health of the planet, and humans' impact on the complex natural systems where it thrives. Praise for Extinction by Laura Perdew National Science Teachers Association Recommends "This book uses the concept of extinction to teach a little chemistry, a little climatology, paleontology, biology (biodiversity), ecology, and a lot of geology. The science information is historical and current, drawing on three-dimensional learning, incorporating science practices to determine what factors affect extinction in general and specifically. The integration of concepts help bring the science alive and relevant." Praise for other books in the Picture Book Science series Forces Booklist Starred Review March 15, 2018 "Forces, despite its down-to-earth scientific grounding, manages to do the nearly impossible. Diehn brings gravity, magnetism, push-pull forces, and friction to life in everyday contexts, without a hint of schoolroom jargon. Children, parents, and teachers alike can enjoy learning the charming, often funny, relatable, and accessible science within this Picture Book Science series (4 titles) offering."