Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesdays - new animal books 9.13.17

Every Wednesday I join Alyson Beecher from kidlitfrenzy and other

kidlit bloggers to share wonderful nonfiction picture books.

The intention of today's blog post is to give professionals that work in the
education field new nonfiction reading material and ideas to use 

with students to promote a love of reading nonfiction materials.

Some new fascinating animal books!


What Makes a Monster?
written by Jess Keating
illustrations by David DeGrand
published by Knopf

This book should not be missed!  For anyone who loved Pink is for Blobfish, they are not going to be able to tear their eyes away from this book.  Equal parts fascinating and disgusting and unbelievable, readers won't know whether to be amazed or afraid!  I think Jess is brilliant the way she makes animal books so fascinating.


Amazing Animal Friendships: Odd Couples in Nature
written by Pavla Hanackova
illustrated by Linh Dao
published by Scribblers

Have you ever seen an odd pair of animals working together?  Like zebras and birds?  Or clownfish and anemones?  There is a reason for that!  Whether it be for food/hunting purposes or maybe cleaning reasons, these animals are odd pairs that get along!
If you are studying this in science, this book will be a great book to have to look at relationships in nature.


Animals at Night
written by Anne Jankéliowitch
illustrated by Delphine Chedru
published by Sourcebooks
October 3rd

This is a fantastic new book that you must add to your collection!  Organized by habitats (farm, garden, mountains, beach, country road, etc.), each layout has a drawing of the animals in their habitat on a black, nighttime layout.  On the sides of the pages list the animals and some information about them.  An added feature are the glow in the dark objects and animals on each page.  Also included is a question, often dealing with the glow in the dark object, on each page.  Readers must use the information or silhouette outline from the information on the page to help them answer the question.  Answers are located in the back of the book.  
I think this is another book that you won't see back in your library very often as it will always be with readers!


Hidden Wildlife: How Animals Hide in Plain Sight
by Jim Arnosky
published by Sterling Children's Books

Another great book for those who teach NGSS and looks at adaptations.  Arnosky explores the hows - how animals camouflage, what allows them to do this and why they may need to camouflage.  If you aren't familiar with Arnosky's artwork, then let this book be the introduction!  They truly are amazing and beautiful.  I would love to know more how he approaches his study of the animals!  I liked Arnosky's comment in the introduction of the book when he talks about how the best way to view the paintings are from a distance to really get the idea of how these animals use camouflage.  

Looks like our nonfiction animal readers have a lot of great books ahead of them!  Be sure to find them for your readers!