Inside animals

Gr 3--6--Educational and entertaining, this title teaches readers about animals and their bodies. More than 20 animals including a jellyfish, camel, shark, penguin, honeybee, and crocodile are featured. The attractive, colorful layouts, easy-to-read fonts, and small chunks of information highlighting important features of the inside of each animal make this title a winner for strong readers and reluctant ones, too. For the snake the highlighted body parts are the tongue, jaw, pit organs, fangs, skeleton, inner ear, muscles, and rattle. On the snake's inner ear it says, "Even though they don't have ears, snakes can hear. Inside their head is a special bone that can feel sounds being made around them." This title is well organized and promotes a curiosity of different parts of animals' bodies in different species. Animals are grouped in sections, with the Muscles and Moving section, for example, featuring an octopus, cow, and ostrich. This title is a winner for a pleasure read or as a resource for a school project. The back matter features a glossary and an index. VERDICT This STEM title is highly recommended for school and public libraries. It is interesting and attractively designed and will encourage children to learn more about nature, anatomy, and biology.--Robin Sofge, Prince William P.L. Syst., VA