These reviews appeared in the Stratford Gazette on July 7, 2011
Written by Sally Hengeveld, Librarian
Have You Ever Seen a Hippo with Sunscreen? by Etta Kaner, 32 pages.Young children, for whom this book is intended, will agree that some of the things which people use are completely unnecessary for animals.
Does a hippopotamus need to use sunscreen? No - of course not! While people use sunscreen to protect their skin from the strong sun, hippos actually produce their own sun protection from the sweat that oozes from their skin. Do beavers need combs? No – they “comb” their fur with their front and hind claws to remove tangles, dirt and twigs. In the same vein, turtles don’t need snorkels; alligators don’t require sunglasses, seals have no need of nose plugs and snowshoes aren’t a necessity for a lynx, whose distinctive feet are constructed for walking on the snow instead of sinking into it.
Each of these animals has unique characteristics which are explained in a light-hearted, easy-to-understand question and answer format.
Toronto-area author Etta Kaner is the author of the new Have You Ever Seen series of books for young readers, which are filled with fun facts in the form of questions and answers about the fascinating world of animals. Accompanied by bright, colourful illustrations, a related activity for children can be found at the end of each book. Have You Ever Seen a Duck in a Raincoat? and Have You Ever Seen an Octopus with a Broom can also be found at the Stratford Public Library.
** Recommended for ages 4 to 7 years.
World’s Weirdest Creatures; a Ripley’s Believe or Not! Book, edited by Mary Packard, 85 pages.
School-aged readers will find a wealth of wild and wacky facts in this slim volume dedicated to some of the world’s strangest and most unique animals and insects. Using brief, concise text, World’s Weirdest Creatures describes some of the amazing characteristics and habits of Earth’s animals and insects. Among many other details, readers will learn that starfish snap off all of their arms when frightened, that a tiger’s roar can be heard up to two miles away, and that a female Madagascar hedgehog (also known as the “tailless tenrec”) can produce as many as 32 babies at once!
Did you know that pheasants can live up to an entire month without eating; golden eagles will attack airplanes and helicopters that fly too close to their nests; blue whale infants gain from eight to ten pounds per hour (which is about 200 pounds a day!), and an ostrich can stun or kill a lion with its strong kick? Young readers will also be intrigued by the book’s description of a very unusual animal - the okapi, which has striped legs like a zebra, a head like a giraffe, a neck similar to that of a horse, a body like an antelope, a tail like an ox and a two-foot-long tongue that is black-blue in colour. (Because okapis live in the rainforests of central Africa, Canadians are quite unlikely to stumble across one of them.)
Children are fascinated by animals and insects, which really are amazing in so many ways. Colourful photographs, quizzes and “brain busters” are interspersed throughout the book for added interest.
** Recommended for ages 8 to 12 years.
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