Extreme Animals: The Toughest Creatures on Earth

by Nicola Davies, Neal Layton (Illustrator)

Overview

"Davies’s chatty, funny text and Layton’s colorful illustrations will pull kids into this fascinating book about survival. . . . Exciting biology for the classroom." — Booklist (starred review)

From the persevering emperor penguins of the South Pole to the brave bacteria inside bubbling volcanoes, from the hardy reptiles of the driest deserts to the squash-proof creatures of the deepest seabeds, animals have adapted to survive in conditions that would kill a human faster than you can say "coffin." Discover how they do it in this amazing natural history book from a celebrated team — and find out who wins the title of the toughest animal of them all.
Back matter includes an index and a glossary.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763641276
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	04/28/2009
Series:	Animal Science
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	64
Sales rank:	101,381
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 9.40(h) x 0.30(d)
Lexile:	AD1100L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Nicola Davies graduated with a degree in zoology before becoming a writer, producer, and presenter of radio and television programs. She lives in Somerset, England.

Neal Layton received distinction for his M.A. in illustration from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, in London, and has been illustrating books for children ever since. He lives in Portsmouth, England.

Editorial Reviews

The authors bring just the right note of whimsy and scientific accuracy to their task…[a] mischievous, nitty-gritty, unsentimental approach to nature.
—New York Times Book Review

What makes this book a standout is that it manages to integrate very funny humor, gross guts-and-gore, and riveting scientific information.
—The Horn Book (starred review)

Fine fare for younger naturalists.
—Kirkus Reviews

Breezy, engaging, and thoroughly informative…will pique children’s curiosity and have them clamoring to learn more about these unique creatures.
—School Library Journal (starred review)

Davies’ chatty, funny text and Layton’s colorful cartoons illustrations, as playful and immediate as they were in Davies Poop (2004), will pull kids into the fascinating book about survival.
—Booklist (starred review)

From the Publisher

The team behind Poop: A Natural History of the Unmentionable returns with another informative oblong volume, Extreme Animals: The Toughest Creatures on Earth by Nicola Davies, illus. by Neal Layton. The duo catalogues the "animals (and plants) that relish the sort of conditions that would kill a human quicker than you could say `coffin' "-from the polar bears at the North Pole to the cold-cuddling Emperor penguins on the South Pole, to camels who welcome a chill after a hot day in the desert. Layton's mix of full-bleed, full-page illustrations, photo-collage spot art and cartoon panels nicely balance the humorous, fact-filled text. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Gr 4-6-"We humans are such a bunch of wimps!-we can't live without food, or water, and just a few minutes without air is enough to finish us off. Luckily, not all life is so fragile." So begins Davies's breezy, engaging, and thoroughly informative natural history of some of the most tenacious survivors on the planet. There is life everywhere on Earth, even in the bubbling volcano, the driest desert, the polar wastelands, and much of that life thrives in conditions that humans could not endure for five minutes or less. This funny and appealing little book describes who these amazing life-forms are and how they manage to survive. Simple and inviting cartoon drawings enliven the text and convey the types of extremes in an easy-to-understand manner. This book is filled with report information, but also is interesting enough to read for fun. It will pique children's curiosity and have them clamoring to learn more about these unique creatures.-Cynde Suite, Bartow County Library System, Adairsville, GA Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Fresh from their dive into Poop: A Natural History of the Unmentionable (2004), Davies and Layton introduce a menagerie of survivors who have adapted to the worst conditions that nature can dish out. With plenty of Layton's daffy, digitally colored cartoons to add both detail and flights of fancy ("Live Naked" proclaims a polar bear's signboard), Davies conveys readers from the Arctic's far-below-zero temperatures to the 200-plus degree heat near a volcano's rim, from sunless "black smokers" on the sea bottom to harsh deserts. She not only identifies denizens of each clime, but also explains how, for instance, Emperor penguins keep their feet warm, wood frogs can survive being frozen and thawed and camels prevent their sensitive brains from overheating. In the end, the author presents persuasive reasons for awarding the "Truly Toughest Extreme Animal" trophy not to humans ("We humans are such a bunch of wimps!"), but to the lowly water bear. Fine fare for younger naturalists. (index, glossary) (Nonfiction. 8-10)

Kirkus Reviews