Nature's Rule Breakers: Creatures That Don't Fit In

by Jessica Fries-Gaither

Overview

Some rules are meant to be broken, even those in the animal kingdom!

You're probably familiar with many of the common categories scientists use for animals: warm-blooded or cold-blooded, nocturnal or diurnal. But what about the animals that don't fit in? Sharks cannot be classified as warm or cold-blooded—they are somewhere in-between. And Eurasian eagle owls don't hunt during the day or night. Instead, they swoop through the trees at dawn and dusk. Author and science educator Jessica Fries-Gaither introduces eight common categories scientists use and the animals that break those rules. Gorgeous, full-color photos will captivate budding scientists with every read!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781728477206
Publisher:	Lerner Publishing Group
Publication date:	10/03/2023
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	587,821
Product dimensions:	10.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.31(d)
Age Range:	7 - 8 Years

About the Author

Jessica Fries-Gaither is an experienced science educator and an award-winning author of books for students and teachers. Her 20+ year teaching career spans elementary school through middle school science and math, three states, and Catholic, public, and independent schools. Additionally, she spent five years in the College of Education and Human Ecology, School of Teaching and Learning at The Ohio State University where she directed NSF-funded projects and provided professional development for elementary and middle school teachers. Jessica is a reviewer for NSTA's elementary journal, Science and Children, and has served on several NSTA advisory boards. Jessica presents at local, regional, and national conferences and teaches preservice elementary science and social studies methods in Notre Dame's Alliance for Catholic Education program. Jessica lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband and four dogs.

Editorial Reviews

"Not your ordinary display of interesting and appealing animals, this offering has an important message for young readers and the adults who care for them. For in-betweeners everywhere."—Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

2023-09-09
Broad labels don’t always work.

Scientists use categories like herbivore or cold-blooded to sort animals, but this intriguing title makes the point that our binary classifications can be too rigid. Science educator Fries-Gaither discusses 22 animals that don’t fit neatly into the standard groups, instead falling somewhere in between. The Eurasian eagle-owl, for example, is neither nocturnal nor diurnal but crepuscular, meaning it is active at dawn or dusk. In winter, wood frogs may seem dead, with no heartbeat, but in spring they thaw and come alive. She also describes animals that move between fresh and saltwater, those that can be both male and female, and those that have both lungs and gills (or neither). Short paragraphs of text are set on or alongside colorful, close-up stock photographs. The author emphasizes her point: “Our categories don’t fit them.” Readers who’ve been saddled with unwanted labels may appreciate the lesson here. “Standing OUT is IN their nature.” (The design incorporates changing text cases and colors for emphasis.) Fries-Gaither concludes by explaining the utility of categories for general scientific purposes and introducing other examples, including plants and extinct animals. Not your ordinary display of interesting and appealing animals, this offering has an important message for young readers and the adults who care for them.

For in-betweeners everywhere. (glossary, further reading, photo credits) (Informational picture book. 5-9)

Kirkus Reviews