The Animal Awards: Celebrate NATURE with 50 fabulous creatures from the animal kingdom

by Martin Jenkins, Tor Freeman (Illustrator)

Overview

Celebrate the most spectacular species in the animal kingdom with this amazing book of animals, illustrated by Tor Freeman.

★★★★★ 'entertaining, engaging and charming illustrations'
★★★★★ 'too adorable to pass up'
★★★★★ 'great for the classrooms, inspiring for teachers and children'

Fifty fantastic creatures are awarded prizes to celebrate their most dazzling talents and some unusual skills. Roll up, roll up! The Animal Awards are about to begin. Who will win the Terrific Teeth Award? Who will claim the title of Most Smelly? Who will win the prize for Best at Pretending To Be A Plant? Celebrate with 50 brilliant animals from around the world who represent nature's rich tapestry.

Featuring: Mound-building termite - great bustard - chimpanzee - peregrine falcon - deep-sea anglerfish - giant octopus - emperor penguin - African elephant - wandering albatross - earthworm - leaf-cutter ant - Cuvier's beaked whale - lion - chameleon - honey bee - naked mole rat - honey badger and honey guide bird - wolf - bat - skunk - tiger - electric ray - giant panda - humpback whale - European eel - Arctic tern - caribou - beaver - orb-web spider - kangaroo - giraffe - mosquito - lyre-bird - pistol shrimp - woodpecker - blacksmith bullfrog - cheetah - dung beetle - vulture - tortoise - ostrich - leaf-tailed gecko - flounder - false coral snake - cuttlefish - lion's mane jellyfish - axolotl - giant clam - polar bear

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781786037794
Publisher:	Frances Lincoln Children's Books
Publication date:	09/03/2019
Pages:	80
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 10.90(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	7 - 9 Years

About the Author

MARTIN JENKINS is conservation biologist and children’s writer. His jobs have varied greatly: “I’ve been an orchid-sleuth in Germany, a timber detective in Kenya and an investigator of the chameleon trade in Madagascar.” His titles include Emperor’s Egg, winner of the Times Junior Information Book of the Year Award, Can We Save the Tiger, winner of the SLA Award, and Gulliver’s Travels, winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal. He lives in Cambridge and London. 

 

Tor Freeman is a London-based illustrator. In 2012 she was awarded the Sendak Fellowship. In 2017 she won the Guardian Graphic Short Story Prize. Her books include the Digby Dog and Olive series.

Editorial Reviews

"There's a surprising amount of information bundled up in this attractive package, which is sure to become a favorite with animal-lovers and browsers."—Booklist

From the Publisher

2019-06-16
Nature's award show, with 50 creatures stepping, swimming, swooping, or slithering up to receive well-earned prizes.

Sporting gold medals around their necks or equivalent areas, the mildly anthropomorphized winners pose proudly in Freeman's cartoon style portraits, then go on to demonstrate distinctive features or behavior, often alongside rows of runners-up, in additional views. Presented in no particular order (though there is an index), the honorees mix such no-brainers as the mound-building termite ("Amazing Architecture Award") and chimpanzee ("The Nifty Tool-User Award") with long shots such as the "Beautiful but Deadly" poison dart frog…and a few dark horses, from the lion's mane jellyfish ("Tangliest Tentacles Award") to dung beetles, which "spend their lives pushing poop around" and so walk away with the "Small but Strong Award." There are some shared awards too, including four-way ties for good parenting ("The Family Awards") and migratory range ("The Long Distance Awards"). Jenkins offers both appreciative introductions for each claimant and notes on diet, geographical range, and other basics. The smiling faces and low-key narrative have their appeal, though the heftier likes of Steve Jenkins' Animal Book (2013) or Mark Carwardine's Natural History Museum Book of Animal Records (2013) offer more naturalistic illustrations, and adrenaline junkies will respond more strongly to Anita Ganeri's melodramatic Astonishing Animals, illustrated by Fiametta Dogi and Dan Cole (2015).

An amiable, digestible visit to the wild kingdom for younger animal lovers. (Nonfiction. 7-10)

Kirkus Reviews