Animals by the Numbers by Steve Jenkins -ADVISABLE

Jenkins, Steve Animals by the Numbers: A Book of Animal Infographics 48 pgs. Houghton Mifflin, 2016. $17.99  NON-FICTION

This book provides facts and information about a wide variety of animals. It starts with animal classification: invertebrate’s vs vertebrates. It moves into a pie chart that vividly shows how many more insect species there are than any other type of animal. Scale models are show for a variety of creatures, including some shown as life size, like the hummingbird. There is a bar chart for speed per MPH, including some interesting facts! Also included are infographics for jumping, flying, amount of sleep, and many more. Fully illustrated in Jenkins typical style.

This was an absolutely fascinating book, that could easily be used by a teacher for a lesson on animals or on the different types of infographic/charts. The infographic format was essential to providing the information and is stunning because of it. I learned quite a bit reading this book and it was all interesting. I think student will enjoy reading this book, as its kind of the Guinness records version of animals and more. Though I am a big fan of photographs in non-fiction (and this one has zero), in this particular book its mostly necessary to have all the illustrations and works very well.

EL (K-3), EL –ADVISABLE Reviewer: Stephanie Elementary School Librarian & Author.