Matthew Murrie

While National Geographic is pretty much the top dog in the browsing nonfiction world, now and then I find another publisher has popped out something really eye-catching and this collection of animal facts, arranged around the theme of "weird names" from Workman, is definitely a top pic for this year.

An introduction clearly and succinctly explains the importance of naming, how animals are named, and the difference between scientific and common names. The animals are organized rather subjectively into funny, magical, fierce, delicious, and just plain weird names. Within each chapter, there are 2-3 pages per animal, explaining their scientific and common name and a variety of interesting facts about the animal. Some are accompanied by photographs, but most include drawings. The backgrounds are bold colors, with an inset detailing the species, habitat, and an additional fact about the animal.

Readers will learn about the striped pyjama squid, ba humbug, fried egg jellyfish, lionhead rabbit, chicken turtle, and, of course, the screaming hairy armadillo. There are several collective spreads that go into more detail on a particular group of animals like peacock spiders, wasps, or animals of Madagascar.

Back matter includes more interesting animal name trivia, instructions on how to discover and name an organism yourself, a funny common name generator, glossary, handful of websites for further reading, and a note on conservation.

Verdict: This is an ideal book to teach kids about scientific nomenclature, as well as a fun browsing title and would also make a nice gift for kids who like to learn interesting facts and share them. Just be prepared to google lots of photographs of creatures like the yeti crab and vampire squid!

ISBN: 9781523508112; Published September 2020 by Workman; Purchased for the library… (mais)