Animals by the Numbers: A Book of Animal Infographics

Title: Animals by the Numbers: A Book of Animal Infographics
Author: Steve Jenkins
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Copyright: November 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0544630925
Age Range: 6-9 Years or Grades 2-6
Reading Level: Lexile-940
Cost: $17.09
Pages: 48

SUMMARY: Animals by the Numbers is a book filled with infographics.  Even the table of contents uses graphics to guide you to sections.  Want to know which species dominates the globe?  Well it is not mammals!  Want to see how humans compare in size to the largest animals?  Did you know the Cheetah is not the fastest creature on the planet? Who has the longest tongue on Earth?  Did you know a giraffe only sleeps 2 1/2 hours a day?  All of these facts and so many more can be found in this book.  Of course you can find out most, if not all, of this information on the internet, but the use of infographics allows for easy comparisons of the species.  The collage like graphics accompanying the charts adds whimsy and breaks up the monotony of the many charts.  This book is filled with facts that are absolutely fascinating.  Did you know the most deadly creature on the planet is the Mosquito?

CRITIQUE:  Not only can youth learn a great deal about the animals around them, but they also can learn about creating infographics (charts, graphs, & pictographs).  The title takes layers upon layers of facts and breaks them down into digestible, fun, and fascinating pictures.  This is definitely a title that could be in every elementary classroom, not just in a library.  The title received starred reviews from School Library Journal, Kirkus, and Booklist. It was the 2018 winner of AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books.
"The intriguing and engaging format of this title is stimulating on a variety of levels, and the approach should appeal to a wide range of students, especially visual learners, something for which educators will be grateful. A brilliantly executed take on a perennially high-interest topic." --Booklist

FEATURES INCLUDED: The book includes a Table of Contents at the beginning and a Bibliography at the end with books/websites used.  You can find out more books by Steve Jenkins at his website: www.stevejenkinsbooks.com

EXAMPLES:

This page highlights "Animal Leapers."  Here like many other pages you can see more than one fact in a chart.  You can see distance jumped in feet in relation to distance jumped times body length.  While a snow leopard can leap up to 50 feet, a froghopper can leap up to 112x body length.  Then at the top it compares the two in relation to one another.

On this spread we see the life spans of animals compared.  P.S. humans are not chart topping!  What is cool is that each color represents a different species.  So again you can compare multiple things at once.  On the right side it's all about heart, beats that is.  Hummingbirds hearts beat at 1200 bpm compared to a blue whale at 10 bpm.  Now check out the size of a blue whale's heart in comparison to the size of a child.


COMPARISONS/RECOMMENDED READING:

Steve Jenkins has so many wonderful book; however, Actual Size provides visual facts about animals in relation to us.  After reading Animals by the Numbers you may want to take your students on a journey through Actual Size so they can see for themselves what the actual facts and figures look like.

The Illustrated Compendium of Amazing Animal Facts also presents lesser known animal facts.  This title does not use infographics, but merely whimsical illustrations and amazing animal facts.  Did you know sea horses have no teeth or stomachs?  If students love Jenkin's book they might love another book filled with random animal facts.  This title would make a nice companion to Jenkin's work.

While there appears to be no exact comparison title to Animals by the Numbers, students would appreciate digging deeper into individual animals by way of an encyclopedia.  National Geographic uses stunning photos in this title, and includes "animal profiles spreads that focus in-depth on a particular animal and animal records spreads that highlight superlatives such as fastest, tallest, smallest, etc."






SUGGESTED USES:  This title lends itself more towards individual exploration as opposed to a read-aloud title.  There are two lesson plans below to explore the ways teachers can use this title.  If libraries are putting together an animal display this title should definitely be included.  Steve Jenkins has written enough books that libraries could create an author study display of just his works as well. This title could be used in science lessons, math lessons, and language arts.

Philadelphia Zoo Corresponding Math Lesson Plan (CCSS provided)
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: Reading, Writing, and Language Arts Educator's Guide (CCSS provided, starts on page 15)

Scientist, Scientist, Who Do You See?

Title: Scientist, Scientist, What Do You See?
Author: Chris Ferrie
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Copyright: April 3, 2018
ISBN: 978-1492656180
Age Range: 4-8 years
Reading Level: Not evaluated yet
Cost: $12.32

SUMMARY: This science parody of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? follows the rhythmic pattern of a beloved Eric Carle book.

"Mani, Mani Who do you see? I see Charles Darwin and the diversity of species." 

Ferrie introduces budding young scientists to just a few of the many famous scientists who have gone before. Albert Einstein, Katherine Johnson, Chien-Shiung Wu, and Alan Turing are just a few of the scientists included in the book.  What is most exciting is the inclusion of scientist from all different disciplines: Biology, Chemistry, Math, Computer Science, Botany, and Physics.  Ferrie also includes scientists from all over the globe as well. 

CRITIQUE: While some of the rhymes are a bit forced, the book introduces little tidbits about the scientists in a fun manner.  Unfortunately, there do not appear to be any reviews of this title by Kirkus, School Library Journal, etc.  As for awards, this title has not been mentioned in any best of lists yet.  It is a newer title, and perhaps that is the reason for the lack of reviews.  Honestly, I had never heard of some of these scientists before, and this book has spurred my interest in finding out more about these lesser known scientists.  The author does a nice job of balancing male to female scientists and shows quite a bit of diversity.  You are Not going to find a book about all white male scientists here. 

FEATURES INCLUDED: At the end of the parody there is an "About the Scientists" section where you can learn exactly what each scientist was famous for.  While the section is short and sweet the information is age appropriate.


EXAMPLES:

Here you begin to see the diversity of countries included. Anna Mani was an Indian physicist and meteorologist.  You also see the use of exaggerated head size providing a cartoon feel to the graphics.







The author also included little illustrations relating to the area of study for each scientist.  Katherine Johnson was a mathematician an worked for NASA.  The author also drew clothing that was related to the time period each scientist lived. 

Here is an example of a Nobel prize winning Egyptian-American scientist Ahmed Zewail.  To be honest I had never heard of him before.  This book highlights lesser known scientists.





At the end, like Brown Bear, Brown Bear you see the cast of characters fully.  The author did a great job of showcasing the diversity in science.  Six women, six men, some famous from the 1800's others recently famous.  Egyptian, American, English, Indian, Chinese, Scottish, and  French-Polish are represented. 








COMPARISONS/RECOMMENDED READING:

Ada Twist, Scientist  is also a rhyming book aimed at a similar age, 5-7 years-old.  "Inspired by real-life makers such as Ada Lovelace and Marie Curie, Ada Twist, Scientist champions girl power and women scientists, and brings welcome diversity to picture books about girls in science." 
This title would make a nice companion book to Scientist, Scientist, showing students how they can be scientists as well.

This title is for youth a bit older, 8-12 years of age, but uses the same comic "big head" illustrations as Ferrie's title.  Andrea Mills' 100 Scientists Who Made History would be an excellent tool to dig into after reading Scientist, Scientist.  You could also use this title and have students pick out new scientists to continue the parody, teaching their fellow classmates about even more scientists.

Goodnight Lab was Ferrie's first parody book.  Many youth have heard Goodnight Moon and will get a kick out of this parody as well as review basic scientific tools.  Chris Ferrie knows how to make science look fun.  You could read this as a companion title when discussing STEM concepts or discussing what a parody is.




SUGGESTED USES:  Scientist, Scientist would make a fun STEM read-aloud for library story time or to a classroom.  The rhythmic pattern makes the book easy to follow and lends itself well to being read to a crowd.  For teachers wanting their students to learn more about scientist, and the myriad of science disciplines this title provides a crash course.  I can also see this title being used to teach the concept of a parody.  Teachers could reading Brown, Bear then Scientist, Scientist and discuss the literary format.  Students could then write their own parody. While parodies are covered in grades 6-12, there is no reason books like this could not be used with older youth for this concept.

Indiana State Standards (Science & Engineering Process Standards):
SEPS.3-Scientists and engineers are constructing and performing investigations in the field or laboratory, working collaboratively as well as individually.  Researching analogous problems in order to gain insight into possible solutions allows them to make conjectures about the form and meaning of the solution.
SEPS.6-Scientists and engineers use their results from the investigation in constructing descriptions and explanations, citing the interpretation of data, connecting the investigation to how the natural and designed world(s) work.