All About Manatees

by Jim Arnosky, Jim Arnosky (Illustrator)

Overview

This all-new title leads Scholastic Nonfiction's relaunch initiative of Jim Arnosky's beloved All About series. All About Manatees is a thorough and colorful introduction to the world of manatees.

All About Manatees is the newest entry in Jim Arnosky's treasured All About series, relaunching in Spring 08 from Scholastic Nonfiction. In All About Manatees, Arnosky shows how manatees grow and live, answering kids' biggest questions about these creatures of the water. Packed with intriguing information and brought to life by Arnosky's vibrant watercolors, this book will fascinate young readers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780439903615
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	05/01/2008
Series:	All About
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	401,840
Product dimensions:	9.00(w) x 7.50(h) x (d)
Lexile:	950L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Jim Arnosky was born on Sept. 1, 1946, in New York. After high school, he attended one year of trade school and then joined the US Navy. His intense love of the natural world led him to pursue a career as a wildlife artist. Today, Arnosky is the author and illustrator of 98 books about wildlife and nature for children. He has received numerous honors for his work, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science Lifetime Achievement Award for excellence in science illustration. Currently, he and his wife live in northern Vermont.

Editorial Reviews

K-Gr 4

This engaging picture-book overview is designed to be shared with prereaders and enjoyed by independent readers alike. The author poses basic questions and invites youngsters into the manatee's underwater world to find out the answers. These large gray marine mammals (10-11 feet long and weighing more than 1000 pounds full grown) are shown in the wild with the fish, plants, and birds common to their habitats. Arnosky's signature watercolors add enormously to the book's appeal and extend the information. He places the creatures in the context of the Sirenia order of animals and then gets down to such specifics as how they use their beaverlike tails to swim, how they poke their nostrils above the surface of the water to breathe, how they eat using their flexible snouts to grab aquatic vegetation, and more. This must-have title is a delight to look at and is packed with interesting and pertinent details.-Frances E. Millhouser, formerly at Chantilly Regional Library, Fairfax County, VA

School Library Journal

Part of the launch of Scholastic's republishing of Arnosky's All About...books in paperback, this displays all the trademark characteristics that have made the author such a staple in the nature and animal sections of libraries. The title of both book and series is entirely appropriate, as readers will, in fact, learn all about manatees. From their dimensions and habitat range, to their distant relations and eating habits, this has it all. For instance, a manatee's limbs are more like arms than flippers, and they do not actually sleep. They communicate with high-pitched squeaks and give birth only every two to five years. While they are larger than many aquatic predators, they are not a threat to either humans or other wildlife-but humans, and especially their boat propellers, do threaten the manatees. Wonderfully detailed illustrations include diagrams and comparisons in introducing readers to this gentle giant. A well-researched addition to both libraries and junior naturalists' shelves. (Picture book/nonfiction. 4-10)

Kirkus Reviews