A Mammal Is an Animal
By Lizzy Rockwell
Holiday House 2018
A mammal is an animal, but is every animal a mammal? This tongue twister, is also a good question. In this clear and engaging non-fiction nature book, kids will go on to answer it themselves, as they use observation and inquiry to distinguish how mammals are different from other animals.
Earthworms are soft inside and out but mammals have body parts that are hard. Insects are hard on the outside, but mammals have their skeletons on the inside. Fish have skeletons inside, but get oxygen from the water, while mammals breather air into their lungs. This process of comparison builds along the evolutionary path of life on earth. A beautiful and informative book that introduces young children to animal classification and dichotomous inquiry. A Mammal Is an Animal meets criteria for Common Core Standards and STEM education
"A dad and two kids walk their English setter and explore what distinguishes mammals from all the other animals they see. Beginning by establishing that animals "can eat, breathe, move, and grow" but that not all animals are mammals, the book introduces several members of the animal kingdom in reverse order of their proximity to mammals on the taxonomic tree. An earthworm, for instance, is an animal, but it "is soft inside and out," whereas mammals have "some body parts that are hard." Similarly, ladybugs have hard body parts, but they're only on the outside, unlike mammals', which are "mostly on the inside." Thus largely eschewing scientific vocabulary in favor of clear explanations (the terms "vertebrates" and "invertebrates" are introduced in a diagram in the backmatter), Rockwell's text focuses on the concepts. The fine-lined ink-and-watercolor illustrations are as clear and straightforward as the text, with the carefully labeled renderings of the animals examined particularly meticulous. Occasional, supplementary text in a smaller type provides further information, such as the facts that whales breathe through blowholes and "snakes usually have just one long lung." The family is an interracial one, with a white dad and brown-skinned mom who is seen nursing a baby in the final spread, underscoring humanity's kinship with our fellow mammals. A clear, respectful introduction. (further facts, references) (Informational picture book. 4-8)"
- Kirkus Reviews, January 2018
Hardbound ISBN: 978-0-8234-3670-5
