by Keltie Thomas
Annick Press, 2010
ISBN 978-1-55451-242-3 (sc)
ISBN 978-1-55451-243-0 (hc)
$12.95/$21.95, 112 pp, index, ages 9 – 12
www.annickpress.com
What kind of cat is completely hairless? What animal has changed the world the most? Why does a mosquito bite swell up into an itchy red bump? These are just a few of the questions that are answered in this colourful and fun-to-read, fact-filled book. It zooms in for a closer look at twentyone animals that have affected world history in a variety of ways. Some of the animals included are silkworms, guinea pigs, goats, dinosaurs and microbes.
This book would support the teaching of several reading comprehension strategies particularly well: making connections, asking questions, inferring. It is filled with nonfiction text features (colour photos, captions, labels, maps, speech bubbles, sidebars, fact boxes, a timeline) and so would work well in any unit in which the identification and use of these features was being taught. It invites questions from which a variety of inferences can be made from finding the answers. It also contains enough facts to be a good resource for classroom research projects.
Review by Brenda Boreham.
This review is from Canadian Teacher Magazine’s Sept/Oct 2011 issue.