Abundantly Astonishing

With the advent of lots of rain and the warm temperatures, summer is in full bloom in northern Michigan.  There is an abundance of critters of all shapes and sizes and flowers, shrubs and trees in the wild.  Gardeners are giddy with their flourishing vegetables, annuals and perennials.  The air is literally humming with the sounds of life, buzzing honeybees, chirping crickets, melodious birdsong and the unmistakable huffs of startled rabbits and deer.

The more we know about those creatures sharing this planet with us, the better we can protect and respect them.  Author illustrator Owen Davey released two new titles in his popular series about animals, Bonkers About Beetles (Flying Eye Books, May 1, 2018 UK and Nobrow, June 5, 2018 US) (National Science Teachers Association, 2019 Outstanding Science Trade Book for Students K-12) and Fanatical About Frogs (Flying Eye Books, March 1, 2019 UK and Nobrow, June 18, 2019 US).  Both books are entertaining and informative with stunning images.

WHAT ARE BEETLES?
Beetles are a group of insects.  They have six
legs, three body segments and two feelers sticking
out of their heads.  Beetles are different from
most other insects in that their forewings form
a hard or leathery protective case over their backs.

With the exception of Antarctica, beetles reside on every continent, living on land and in the water.  Of these beetles some are predators, others are herbivores, and some enjoy both animals and plants.  There is another category of beetles known to feast on animals and plants that are dead.

Did you know beetles don't have lungs?  They breathe through spiracles.  Most beetles have a pronotum, antennae, elytra, horns, legs, eyes, rostrum, flight wings, mandibles and a mouth.  The elytra are a sturdier wing giving protection to the flight wings.  (The three body segments are labeled with these ten parts noted in those three sections by a number.)

The changes from egg to adult in a beetle can take as long as fifty years.  Where do you think the dung beetle lays a single egg?  Fireflies are featured for their use of light.  Depending on the specie they have a variety of flash and flight patterns.  This light attracts and acts as a warning.

There are beetles who point their heads to the ground with their bottoms up so water runs into their mouths before the heat of the desert glows hot and dry.  Beetles mimic color of other animals to protect themselves and to infiltrate other insects' colonies to feed on them.  They blend in their surroundings for survival, pretend to be dead, make loud noises, sting, stink and carry weaponry on their bodies.

In a feature on seven-spot ladybugs we discover they are loved in part for their appetite of aphids.  Their black and red coloring shouts to predators, I am toxic. Of the more than

6,000 described species of ladybugs around the world

one has the letter M on its pronotum.

The male Harlequin beetle has legs longer than its body giving him warrior status when necessary.  There is a beetle as big as an adult hand and one smaller than the punctuation period.  To help the hundreds of beetle species under threat you might consider building a bug hotel.  (A colorful and captioned diagram acts as a guide.)


WHAT ARE FROGS?
Frogs are amphibians, which are animals that usually switch between living in water and living on land during different stages of their life cycle.  Frogs have short bodies, no tails and their back legs are typically longer than their front legs, usually with some webbing between their toes.

Did you know that all toads are frogs, but not all frogs are toads?  Just like beetles, frogs inhabit each continent with the exception of Antarctica.  Frogs have tympanum (a covering over their eardrum), nictitating membrane (a protective inner eyelid), eyes, warts (some), feet, adhesive pads (some), legs and tubercle (some).

There is a frog with no lungs, breathing through its skin.  There is a frog after shedding its skin, consumes it.  There is a frog capable of creating a type of sunscreen and applying it everywhere.

Frogs' tongues are amazing!  They roll toward the back of their throat until they're needed.  The spit on their tongues changes textures before and during use to ensnare their food.  Like other animals the coloring of frogs can save their lives and hide them or shout about their poisonous nature.  If their hues are a warning, they are called aposematic.

Starry night reed frogs change their entire color.  They are white during the day and black during the night hours.  To beat the heat the Main's frog fashions

a waterproof cocoon around their bodies

and stays underground.

The sounds of frogs are as varied as the species.  Some are beyond the ability of humans to hear them.  An American bull frog can sound like a cow or scream like a human.  You won't believe why frogs are commonly said to make the ribbit sound.  Most frogs begin as eggs, then tadpoles, froglets and then are adults.  Where the eggs are placed depends on the frogs.  Some of these spots are impressive.

A featured frog is the bright red-eyed treefrog who enjoys the nighttime best.  To stay safe during the day, they shape themselves to hide all their vivid shades.

Male red-eyed treefrogs shake their butts to win an argument.  (Who knew?)

Going from smooth to spiky is a trait of the Mutable Rainfrog.  Can you imagine walking along in central Africa and coming across a foot-long Goliath Frog?  One of the smallest frogs was only discovered nineteen years ago.  (It's about as big as my pinkie fingernail.)  There are frogs that cover thirteen feet in one jump.  Frogs like beetles need our help.  We need to observe them, but let them leave (and live) without our interference.


In both books Owen Davey begins with a table of contents highlighting an up-close-and-personal visual of a subject in his title.  He invites readers by defining what their physical characteristics are and showcasing their favorite foods; some of which are surprising.  Two pages are dedicated to detailed portraits carefully labeled.  Sections are included focusing on birth to adulthood.  Certain species are given features.  Each book includes chapters titled:

Weird and Wonderful
Little and Large
To Scale
And the Award Goes to . . .
__________Mythology
Conservation and an
Index.

Owen Davey writes to engage people's curiosity.  He piques our interest with unique facts and maintains this relationship with readers throughout the books using conversational and clever word choice as he informs us in his phrases, sentences and paragraphs.  You will also find humor.  Here are two passages, one from each book.

AND THE AWARD GOES TO . . .
The award for the strongest beetle
goes to the horned dung beetle.
This brawny beetle can pull 1,141
times its own body weight.  For a 
human, that would mean the ability
to drag an entire airplane filled 
with vacationers and their
luggage.  These beetles use their
immense strength to drive rivals
away from females.

The award for the loudest frog goes to the
Puerto Rican common coqui frog.  Males
call through the night with a noise as loud
as a lawn mower.  Their call has two distinct
tones that give the frog its name---"co" and
"kee."  The first tone drives away rival males
and the second tone is for enticing females.


One of the first things readers notice about the book cases of these books is their distinctive color palettes, the design and layout of the elements on the front, the texture of cloth (paper) on the book cases and the embossed titles.  The back of the books serves as end flaps on a dust jacket.  They challenge readers to continue with intriguing facts.  Smaller images but still graphically enchanting are centered between the text.

The matching opening and closing endpapers showcase a variety of shapes and sizes of each species.  Each page turn reveals a striking array of illustrations.  Owen Davey varies his sizes and the elements in each picture.  Some span two pages in a horizontal column.  Others move from left to right over the gutter to create a vertical column for a group of smaller visuals. Double-page pictures offer dramatic depictions.

His artwork shows every exquisite detail.  In a separate circle we might move in very close to see how the two sets of jaws on a beetle work. We are enchanted with the four flash and flight patterns of fireflies moving over a darkened landscape in purple hues and black.  We seek the rave beetle carefully hidden among the ants.  We marvel at the eye of the red-eyed treefrog and its nictitating membrane.  The two rows of poison dart frogs are deadly but beautiful.  It's hard not to gasp at the life-size picture of the Goliath frog.

Two of my favorite illustrations, one in each book, have to do with camouflage.  On a full-page picture we are asked to locate the longhorn beetle on a tree.  Shades of brown, green and black create a breathtaking view of the wonders of nature.  Four frogs in four horizontal panels depict how they can blend with a leaf, moss or mimic bird poop.


As he did in his first titles, Mad About Monkeys, Smart About Sharks and Crazy About Cats, Owen Davey has written and illustrated two stellar titles, Bonkers About Beetles and Fanatical About Frogs.  These books (this series) is the finest in nonfiction reaching readers in a range of ages.  I highly recommend both for your professional and personal collections.

To learn more about Owen Davey and his other work, please follow the link attached to his name to access his website.  At his website you can view multiple images from each book by selecting the appropriate illustration.  Owen Davey maintains accounts on Instagram and Twitter. For Bonkers About Beetles you can view images at Penguin Random House and Nobrow.  For Fanatical About Frogs you can view images at Penguin Random House and Nobrow.  You can read a little bit about Owen Davey's process at Flying Eye Books.  He is interviewed at Digital Arts.  Enjoy the videos.

Bonkers About Beetles - Owen Davey from Modik on Vimeo.


Fanatical About Frogs teaser - Flying Eye Books from Persistent Peril on Vimeo.


Be sure to visit Kid Lit Frenzy hosted by educator Alyson Beecher to view the other titles selected this week by participants in the 2019 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge.

Stacking Felid Facts

They move with such grace and stealth you are hardly aware of them.  In our neighborhoods, cities and out in the country if they are seen, it's because they allow it.  For thousands of years they have shared their lives with humans.  Ancient cultures are known to have worshipped them.

Household cats outnumber dogs but interestingly enough more homes have canines as companions.  In his newest title exploring a facet of the animal world Owen Davey (Mad About Monkeys) presents Crazy About Cats (Flying Eye Books, June 1, 2017 UK, Nobrow, September 5, 2017 US).  Fascinating facts about those cats living in the wild rather than our homes fill every page.

WHAT ARE CATS?
Cats are a group of mammals known scientifically as felids.  Depending on which scientists you ask, there are between 37 to 41 different species.  The house cat is very similar to wild cats in a lot of ways.

Following this introduction we are given a general idea of where wild cats live, what they eat and their general personalities.  Our wild cats today can be placed in eight groups depending on their origin and how they changed over time.  Did you know our house cats probably started to hang around humans when we turned from hunters into farmers?  One of their food sources, rodents, liked to snack on grains.

Cats in the wild have amazing physical characteristics designed for specific purposes.  Did you know cat whiskers can sense air movement around objects?  This helps them to understand the area in which they find themselves.  Cat tongues contain

filiform papillae

which act like teeth on a comb so they can groom their fur.  Speaking of fur, no two cat furs are alike.  A wild cat's fur is the key to survival and hunting; it acts as camouflage.

Prepare to be mesmerized by the unique traits of the margay, a smaller cat living in the rainforests of Central and South America and lions of Asia and Africa, the rusty-spotted cat and tigers.  These cats are featured more in depth.  Margays can walk head first down tree trunks.  Perhaps it's their ankles which can rotate 180 degrees which help with this feat.  In most lion prides (groups) the females are responsible for the hunting.  Rusty-spotted cats are gifted with speed and able to snatch birds in flight.  No specie of cat is larger than tigers.

When cats hunt they adapt to capture their prey.  Did you know there is a cat that will dive to catch fish?  Jaguars will actually float with the current hoping to nab an unsuspecting meal on the river bank.  Finding territory and keeping it are essential.  Marking it with their scent, fighting those who dare to cross boundaries and roaring are necessary.  Not all wild cats roar.  (Who knew?)

The loudest roar, the largest canines, the strongest jaw, the longest tail, longest jump, the cat with the most names and the fastest cat awards are shown and explained.  In a gorgeous display a human and eight cats are shown to scale across two pages.  Toward the close of the title focus shifts to the Pallas' Cat, the Serval, the Sand Cat, the Black-Footed Cat, the Iberian Lynx, the Caracal, the Jaguarundi and the Flat-Headed Cat on two pages titled Weird And Wonderful.  Young cats are addressed on two pages.  Owen Davey closes with Cat Mythology and Feline Fine; history and the danger wild cats face today.  Humans are encroaching on their space.


After reading the two previous books in this series, Mad About Monkeys and Smart About Sharks, I could not wait for Crazy About Cats' publication in the United States.  Upon the arrival of a copy from the UK, it was read in a single sitting.  Owen Davey writes with a passion for his subject, conveying those points most intriguing to readers.

Our interest is indeed held with the information but Davey moves flawlessly from general overviews to specific species.  Each aspect is explained thoroughly.  Readers will find his chapter headings humorous; Paws for Thought, Making a Meal of Things, Pride and Predators and Kitten Caboodle.  Here are two sample passages.

Nom Nom
Cats are obligate carnivores, which means that they have to eat meat in order to get the right nutrients for survival.  Cats eat whatever they can get their paws on, including rodents, hares, birds, monkeys, antelopes, zebras, turtles, insects, deer, alligators, and snakes.  Many will also hunt smaller species of cat.

Roar Deal
Felids can make many different noises, including growling, mewing, yelping, hissing, howling, and even whistling to talk to each other.  Lions, tigers, leopards, and jaguars are the only cats that are able to roar.  They use this long, deep, booming noise over great distances to warn other cats off their turf.


The warm, rich hues of orange, red, yellow, brown, deep forest green and black seen on the book case arre used superbly throughout this title.  Owen Davey's cats are ready to roar or at the very least, leap off the page.  The title letters are embossed in the textured cover.  To the left, on the back, a wild cat (actual name) is ready to pounce on a rodent.  The opening and closing endpapers are covered in a bright red-orange.  On each the same twelve cats are fully animated.  Beneath the text on the title page a Caracal is staring at the reader.

With a page turn we are deep in a jungle as an Indochinese clouded-leopard looks at us on the left; its face taking up the entire page.  To the right are the Contents.  The signature stylized technique supplied by Davey in his artwork is resplendent.

On each page we are greeted with a full page image or a series of smaller visuals, an explanatory graph, a large labeled illustration of a cat and its physical attributes, an extended picture depicting camouflage, or a large image spanning two pages.  Each of these corresponds to the narrative.  When appropriate Davey, in smaller print, captions the pictures.  Readers can't help but be amazed at the layout and design.

One of my many favorite illustrations is of the margay at night.  Deep greens and black designate the time of day.  Several stars appear in the sky with a smaller full moon in the distance.  The Margay is very close to the reader as if we happened upon it suddenly in a tree.  Its body is facing away from us but the head is turned looking right at the reader, large eyes seeking and finding.  Foliage frames the cat.


You paws-tively must have a copy (or two) of Crazy About Cats written and illustrated by Owen Davey on your professional bookshelves.  And if you realize the more we know about our animal companions the better able we will be to protect them, then you will want a copy on your personal bookshelves too!  This is an outstanding book in every respect.  There is an Index listing each cat within one of the eight lineages.

To learn more about Owen Davey and his other work please visit his website by following the link attached to his name.  Owen Davey maintains Tumblr pages and an Instagram account.  You can view interior pages at the publisher's website.  Owen Davey is interviewed about this book and his work in general at Just Imagine.

To view other titles selected by bloggers participating in the 2017 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge please visit Kid Lit Frenzy hosted by Alyson Beecher.

Oh Those Amazing Animals

Fashioned from two socks and stuffed with stockings, my sock monkey acted as comforter and confidant. She was a constant companion until she was little more than pieces held together by threads.  Hand stitched, her facial features were unique.  The eyes and smile were filled with compassion.

In the natural world, her fellows are widely and wildly different.  Mad About Monkeys (Flying Eye Books, August 11, 2015) written and illustrated by Owen Davey is a collection of captivating information about the monkey population on our planet.  By the time you read the final word, your appreciation for these remarkable creatures will indeed grow.

WHAT ARE MONKEYS?
Monkeys belong to a group of mammals known as primates.  Humans are also primates but humans are not monkeys.  However, monkeys and humans aren't all that different.  

Monkeys (and other animals) are called quadrupeds because they walk on all fours for most of the time.  Their diet can vary from seeds to small animals depending on the species.  If they choose to live in trees they are known as arboreal.  It's interesting to note monkeys are not grouped with chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, gibbons, tarsiers or lorises and lemurs.

Did you know there is a distinction between Old World Monkeys and New World Monkeys?  Physical characteristics and geographical location separate the two families.  The smallest monkey in the world, fully grown, is no larger than the palm of an adult's hand.  The largest monkey in the world, though shy, is fierce with large canine teeth sometimes two inches in length.

Monkeys have learned the benefits and challenges with living in a community.  They can communicate in a singular language, supply security or engage in loud skirmishes for leadership.  In specific instances they adapt well to their surroundings.  In the search for grass and due to climate change the Gelada male monkeys grow fur long enough to be called a cape.

Three miles away a certain monkey howl is heard.  Did you know monkeys grow beards?  Can you imagine having a nose so long it hangs over your mouth?  Who knew there are monkeys that can swim; feasting on crabs which they locate under water?  Monkeys are sneaky when necessary or simply because of curiosity.

As part of cultural mythologies and religions, monkeys have a place in the human world.  Their habitat, like many other creatures, is threatened.  They are essential to the ecological community as a whole; therefore it is essential we offer them protection.  We can do this.


When Owen Davey writes nonfiction you enter the world he creates with his words.  In his fifteen chapters he selects information readers will find the most fascinating.  His narrative is inclusive but conversational ranging from general to specific facts.  He makes comparisons understandable to all readers.  All of the featured monkeys are designated as Old World or New World in their labels.  Here is another sample passage.

Red and blue coloured noses and multi-coloured bottoms make mandrills one of the most attractive and beautiful primates.

'But why such colourful bums?' I hear you ask.  Scientists believe that these magnificent rumps are simply used as beacons in the leafy gloom of the forests.  When following each other through the forest, the bright rear ends are easy to spot and follow.


When you hold a copy of this book in your hands, the first thing you notice other than the remarkable collage on the front book case, is the texture, feeling like cloth.  The title text in red is raised.  On the back, to the left, Owen Davey has used a portion of an interior image placing it in a darker setting.  The matching opening and closing endpapers facing the title page in the beginning and the publication information at the end, showcase eleven different monkeys.  The table of contents is positioned within a double-page picture of a monkey in tree branches.

All of the images in this work vary in size in direct relation to the text.  This is an astounding example of beautiful design and layout. The illustrations are geometric works of art with details necessary to portray a specific monkey, a habitat, or food.  The heavier matte-finished paper works well with the selected color palette.

One of my favorite illustrations is a single page showcasing the Pygmy Marmoset, New World, Monkey, South America.  Davey has the monkey grasping a tree with lemons growing on the side.  It allows the reader to see the actual size in comparison to something familiar.  He also has the tail hanging down so we can see its length which is usually longer than the monkey's body.


If you are looking for a marvelous non-fiction read aloud picture book, Mad About Monkeys written and illustrated by Owen Davey is highly recommended.  (Please note that Owen Davey has recently released a companion title Smart About Sharks, August 9, 2016.)  The relaxed, friendly text with his distinctive images will appeal to a wide range of readers.  Davey's final chapter Deforestation includes ways we affect forests and how we can change this effect.  There is an index for the more than forty monkeys highlighted in this book.

To learn more about Owen Davey and his other work, please follow the link to his website attached to his name.  He includes many images from this book at this site.  Owen Davey wrote a guest post about this book at The Federation of Children's Book Groups.  Owen Davey is interviewed at Pushing Pixels.  You can discover more about monkeys at ARKIVE.  


Each week by participating in the 2016 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge I learn more than I ever imagined I would.  I am most thankful to educator Alyson Beecher for hosting this challenge at Kid Lit Frenzy each Wednesday.  Be sure to visit the site and view the titles chosen by other bloggers.