David FitzsimmonsRezensionen

a great informational book that discusses different animals that can be found in people's backyards.
6 books

a great informational text that discusses the different animals that live in the ocean, what they eat, how they survive
6 books

Song book about animals we can find in the ocean
6 books

Song book about animals we can find in our everyday environments
6 books

I loved not only the context of this book but how the author gave each of the animals their very own personalities. I am a huge fan of personifying animals throughout literature, so I thought this was a really cute way to gain young readers attention. I also found this book to be extremely educational for children to read and learn about small critters. I am going to keep this book in mind for my own classroom because of the way the author decided to write the book. The author used a lot of words that jump out to children when they are reading, such as " T-H-W-I-P" while introducing the jumping spider. This would be an all around fun book to read out loud to an elementary class.

The photographs of the animals are outstanding! I find this a book to be enjoyed over and over again. I agree with the author's decision to show the animals with plain backgrounds to eliminate any distractions. I was particularly glad to know this (quoted from the copyright page in the book): "All animals portrayed in this book were handled carefully and not sedated. Some resided at centers dedicated to education, conservation, and rehabilitation. Wild animals were returned to their habitats."

This book is a great information book with great photography. The kids will love to look at the pictures, and learning about the animals. This can be used during my animal habitat unit.

"Curious Critters" is a informational book about different/unique species of animals. From a Arachnids to Resptiles this book gives an snap shot of a in the life of these critters. More interesting is the way the author delivers the intended information. It was told through the critters point of view, either through song or a story. This creates a fun and attention grabbing book. For example in the story the frog is talking about being on the Lilly pad and so fourth. Another attention to this book is at the end when the author provides a scientific background of each featured animal. Great read for third and fourth graders in a science center.

Curious Critters by David FitzSimmons is a fun and engaging take on informational texts. Each page consists of a large colorful photo of a critter, from an American Bullfrog to Virginia Opossum. Along with a jump-out-of-the-page photo is text containing information about the critter from the critters point of view. "Its just no true: I don't give people warts when the touch me." states the American Toad before he goes into characteristics of his species. This informational text also includes a Natural History page containing additional facts of each critter mentioned. A page of the critter's life size silhouettes is also found in the back of the book with colorful life size shadows of each critter, along with questions quizzing the reader. This interactive text would make a great addition to any children's library.

Summary:
This book is about animals and it is portrayed in an animal’s point of view. It talks about many different animals. The pictures in the book seem to jump out of the pages. The back of the book shows natural history notes about each of the animals.
Personal Reflection:
I loved this book. It was very educational and I learned a lot of little facts about some of the animals. It would be great to use in the classroom.
Classroom Extension:
1. This would be great to use to teach the students about animals.
2. this would also be a fun book to read to the students during teaching Science.

Curious Critters is a beautiful book by photographer David FitzSimmons about a variety of unusual creatures.

What you see on the cover is indicative of the interior photography. Each page contains a large color photograph of an animal against a white background. A few examples: Gray Treefrog, Bush Katydid, Blue Jay, Southern Flying Squirrel, Eastern Spiny Softshell Turtle, Monarch caterpillar.

Each photo is accompanied by text describing the pictured critter from its own perspective.

At the end of the book are a couple extra features. First is a two-page spread that includes miniature versions of each animal photo, accompanied by a short, more “scientific” write-up about each one. This is followed by another two-page spread which features silhouettes of each of the creatures, in proportion to one another. The silhouettes are numbered, and used to answer several interactive activity-type questions also included on the page. (Answers are on the following page.) Additional activities (and sample pages for online viewing) are available at curious-critters.com.