The Book of Tiny Creatures

by Nathalie Tordjman, Julien Norwood (Illustrator), Emanuelle Tchoukriel (Illustrator)

Overview

In the air, on the ground, and in the water, incredible tiny creatures are all around us! They may be small, but they live remarkable lives. The Book of Tiny Creatures introduces young learners to spiders, butterflies, worms, snails, and even the world's heaviest insect, the Little Barrier Island giant weta. This fun-filled book teaches children fascinating facts through interactive quizzes, detailed seek-and-find scenes, and hands-on activities, like how to make a snail terrarium. A great first STEM read, The Book of Tiny Creatures reveals the wonder of how these creatures grow, reproduce, form communities, and more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781648960413
Publisher:	Princeton Architectural Press
Publication date:	02/16/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	72
File size:	13 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	5 - 9 Years

About the Author

Nathalie Tordjman is a Paris-based journalist specializing in nature and the environment. She is the author of more than forty books and writes for numerous publications.
Julien Norwood is a French author and illustrator educated at the Museum of Natural History in Paris.
Emmanuelle Tchoukriel is a French illustrator who trained in medical and scientific illustration at Estienne School in Paris.

Editorial Reviews

"Detailed, colorful watercolor art accompanies pages of information about the smallest members of these groups: mollusks, annelids, and arthropods....Effectively demonstrates that small can be fascinating."
– Kirkus Reviews

"The smallest creatures children can commonly see—mollusks (such as snails), annelids (worms), and arthropods (insects, spiders, and scorpions), are covered by environmental journalist Tordjman (The Living Pond) in entrancing detail in this English translation of a French import....[T]he breadth of the topics covered and engaging visual layout make this commendable. A gorgeous choice for school and public libraries."
– ALA Booklist (STARRED REVIEW)

"This is a browsable and beautifully illustrated guide to mollusks, worms, and arthropods (e.g., insects and arachnids). Realistically detailed drawings (with some cartoony art interspersed) accompany an engaging bullet-point text that opens with general information about the three groups and their reproduction, growth, and migration."
– The Horn Book,

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"Kids of all ages will enjoy learning more about tiny creatures in this informative, beautifully illustrated picture book....The Book of Tiny Creatures is a picture book children will frequently revisit to learn more about the incredible world of tiny creatures. Highly recommended!"
– YorkRegion.com,

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From the Publisher

01/29/2021

K-Gr 4—This title will appeal to readers who want to know more about the creepy crawlies and beautiful butterflies of the world. Readers are asked questions such as, "Who are the tiny creatures?" and "Who uses four wings to fly?" The text covers a range of flying, crawling, and creeping critters, and focuses on three core groups: mollusks, annelids, and arthropods. "Little Workshop" sections are included, which provide hands-on activities designed to help youngsters engage with tiny creatures by safely catching them and building terrariums and garden shelters. Overall, the elegant design echoes the illustrations of 19th-century naturalists, but the text sometimes overtakes the images. Although the changes in typeface help differentiate headings from content, the cursive script is small and sometimes challenging to read. A great deal of information is shared throughout, resulting in some pages that are a bit more crowded than others. Ultimately, the book is delicately designed, elegantly constructed, and will appeal to readers for its eye-catching aesthetics and informational content. VERDICT Purchase for nonfiction nature collections; a lovely addition to the shelves of budding naturalists.—Jen McConnel, Longwood Univ., Virginia

School Library Journal

2020-11-27
Detailed, colorful watercolor art accompanies pages of information about the smallest members of these groups: mollusks, annelids, and arthropods.

A pleasingly designed table of contents lists titles and subheadings for five chapters, plus these backmatter pages: “The insect orchestra,” “Answers to questions,” and “Index of tiny creatures.” Each chapter begins with a selection of facts about its specific topic, then presents ways for young naturalists to further explore tiny creatures. The text is graceful, and vocabulary and systems including metamorphosis, larvae, molt, elytra (elsewhere, confusingly, called elytrons), parthenogenesis, hemolymph, and stridulate are clearly explained. However, such words as articulated, undulate, and inseminated will not necessarily be understood in context. Oddly, occasional quizzes pop up, with terse answers at the book’s end—and no explanations in the text. The same two children grace each chapter, one Asian-presenting and one White-presenting, both with sweetly flushed cheeks. Emphasis is on European flora and fauna, but there is plenty of crossover into North America. Entomologists are still trying to learn whether painted ladies and monarchs make their mythic, long migrations as individuals or in generations, but the text reports only the more dramatic idea of one butterfly traveling thousands of miles to and from its hatching grounds. Gentle humor and deep respect for tiny creatures—plus, inexplicably, lobsters—comes through in a book well suited for browsing.

Effectively demonstrates that small can be fascinating. (Nonfiction. 7-9)

Kirkus Reviews