Nonfiction Monday -- How to clean a Hippopotamus

How to Clean a Hippopotamus -- a look at unusual animal partnerships by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page. NY: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2010. Available now.

How DOES a turtle keep a hippopotamus clean?
or for that matter -- what are those birds doing with those animals?
Oxpecker and Giraffe?
Plover and Crocodile?
Cattle egret and waterbuck?
Coyote and badger?
All of them are either cleaning one another, or are hunting together. Most every partnership has been formed to help each other get food or for protection.

The Honeyguide can't get into the bee's nest, so it finds a honey badger, leads it to the nest and waits until the badger has torn it apart. Neither could get the delicious honey without the other.

This great book about Symbiosis for first or second graders is illustrated by Steve Jenkins's collage. But this time, instead of stark cut-paper, the cut-paper serves to give the animal a three dimensional look while shading and stippling on the animal gives them texture.

Ah, the HM website has this neat tidbit about the co-authors:
"Robin Page lives in Boulder, Colorado, with her husband and collaborator, Steve Jenkins, and their three children. Along with writing and illustrating children's books, Steve and Robin run a graphic design studio." Check it out. They're much younger than I had imagined, considering the number of books they've produced over the years.

More Nonfiction Monday reviews can be found at The Booknosher's blog.
-wendieO

Nonfiction Monday -- Never Smile at a Monkey

Never Smile at a Monkey and 17 Other Important Things to Remember, written and illustrated by Steve Jenkins. NY: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2009. Available now.

Oh my. Steve Jenkin's cut paper illustrations for his nonfiction books only get better and better. Clever librarians will place this book on display with both the front and back covers showing, because it's a two-parter. The words before the "and" are on the front with a perfectly normal monkey face. Take a peek at the back cover and don't drop the book -- as a monkey face seems to attack with all teeth showing, ready to chomp a chunk out of you.

There are many animals that don't seem dangerous -- but they are. Jenkins discusses one per page (Okay, some are double page spreads) using clever titles like "Never corner a cassowary," "Never pet a platypus," or "Never clutch a cane toad." (I do love alliteration.) You'd never believe it, but most of these things can kill you -- or at least create pain and agony.

For those who would like even more information, he includes additional paragraphs at the back of the book along with illustrations showing the animals in their attack modes, plus a short reading list.

When I checked Amazon.com to see if I could capture a back cover for you to see (they didn't have it), I discovered that Betsy Bird (writer of A Fuse #8 Production blog) already did one of her marvelous reviews of this book, way back in September. The only excuse I have for being slow to notice this book is that it didn't arrive in my library branch until now.

More Nonfiction Monday books are listed at Abby (the) Librarian.
-wendie old

Nonfiction Monday -- Life in a coral reef

Life in a Coral Reef by Wendy Pfeffer. Illustrated by Steve Jenkins. Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science 2. New York: Collins (an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers), 2009 Available now.

Well, the paperback is available now on Amazon, but I see no record of a hardback edition, despite the fact that I'm holding a hardback in my hand. Hmmmmm. However, when I check the publisher's website, I find that a hardback IS available. (cross-checking with Amazon, using the hardback's ISBIN, does force a hardback to show, but it doesn't show when you do a title search. This is weird.

Ah hem. Enough with the Librarian-tech stuff. Back to the review.

DISCLAIMER -- I love, love, love the Let's-Read-and-Find out series! I have noticed in the past few years that some of the older editions were being re-issued with new illustrators. This isn't one of them; this is newly written by Wendy Pfeffer who has been writing books for this series ever since the 1990s.

And look at the illustrator! Award-winning Steve Jenkins! His amazing papercut illustrations use texture as well as shape to create very life-like pictures.

Since this is a level 2 science book, the sentences are longer and more complicated than the usual Let's-Read-and-Find-Out book. But you need that to describe the complicated interactions of life underwater. There are still only a few sentences per page.

Before you ask, "But did she include the current problems in the coral reefs?", let me show you the last two pages of the book -- Find Out More About Coral Reefs. Yes, she did. Plus various fun facts.

Other Nonfiction Monday posts are located here. Scroll down to see the whole list.
-wendie old