Review by Booklist Review
While many children's books explain how and why animals camouflage themselves, few discuss the creatures that seem to enjoy calling attention to themselves and showing off their physical features. Peacocks, turkeys, and egrets display their feathers to attract mates, while some reptiles spread their skin to intimidate predators. Bull moose, elk, and deer use their antlers to fight for dominance. Some fish turn brilliant colors during spawning season. Others alternately flash and hide their colorful fins to distract their enemies. Rattlesnakes and beavers make unusual noises to scare off potential attackers. In each thematic section of the book, Arnosky introduces a new topic in a few paragraphs of clear information, illustrated with small, precise pencil drawings and large, expressive acrylic paintings. Like his Thunder Birds: Nature's Flying Predators? (2011) and Hidden Wildlife: How Animals Hide in Plain Sight? (2017), this large-format book includes a number of single-and double-gatefold pages that show up well for classroom sharing. An engaging, enlightening book for animal-lovers. --Carolyn Phelan Copyright 2018 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Arnosky introduces animals with unusual-and showy-characteristics. Subjects include birds with dramatic plumage, mammals with horns and antlers, and animals that ward off threats by making noise. Some animals, like sockeye salmon, "change their color completely"; subjects able to "spread" their skin include the anole. Arnosky includes pencil sketches and colorful, naturalistic renderings of the creatures, as well as several striking foldouts. The naturalist's lyrical, first-hand accounts of animals in the wild ("The animals' hooves kicked up dust that hung in the air like mist over their heads") contribute an additional layer of immediacy to the well-informed descriptions. Ages 6-10. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 1-4-The magnificent coloration of many birds and other animals do not necessarily protect them from predators. These displays are often meant to show off the health and vigor of a creature in order to attract a compatible mate. Rattles, horns, antlers, and ballooning skin also serve in mating rituals. Arnosky pairs full-page, colorful watercolor illustrations with an informative narrative to explain the uses of these displays and to urge readers to wonder at their beauty. Foldout pages allow for large representations of some of the creatures. Peacocks, turkeys, and grouses embody the glory of their fan tail display. Anoles, cobras, and the frilled lizards typify the skin spreaders whose displays are meant to show their fierce power to competitors and foes. Horned animals such as deer, elk, and goats keep competitors away through the sight and use of their powerful headgear. A useful bibliography will encourage further exploration of these spectacular animal displays. VERDICT Students interested in animal behavior will find much to ponder here.-Eva Elisabeth VonAncken, formerly at Trinity-Pawling School, NY © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Arnosky explains how the showy appearances or behaviors of animals help them to find mates, scare off predators, and communicate. His excellent illustrations, some across foldout pages, include dramatic portrayals of animals in full display as well as smaller sketches that provide variations across species. Personal notes from the naturalist author-illustrator at the beginning and end add an intimate touch. Reading list. (c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Bold markings and showy displays make some animals stand out.Arnosky's characteristically detailed nature drawings and paintings illustrate an album of animal hams. Short chapters describe "skin spreaders" such as lizards and snakes, "noise makers" like bellowing alligators, "inflators" like the male magnificent frigatebird; deer, goats, and sheep with horns and antlers; fish with inviting or warning colors; and birds with distinctive plumage. Each chapter includes full-bleed, full-page acrylic paintings plus sidebar pencil drawings (some colored) to accompany the explanatory text. Interspersed are fold-out spreads of two and even four pages showing the fanned tails of a peacock and a turkey, fully developed antlers on an elk, and fancy plumes on a great egret. The author's informative narrative is chatty and personal; his well-chosen examples include animals he's observed in the wild near his homes in Vermont and Florida as well as animals from far-off places, such as the Australian frilled lizard. Some drawings have extra labels in script as if they were taken from his notebook. As with others in this series, like his most recent Hidden Wildlife (2017), this can be read aloud or alone, but it is designed for the same kind of careful, repeated attention the longtime naturalist pays to the outdoor world.Another splendid addition to a shelf filled with interesting invitations to the wonders of nature. (author's note, additional reading) (Informational picture book. 6-10) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
