"How do you fight back?
When I get scared, pores on my body
make slime. Tons of it. It's so strong,
it can clog a predator's gills and
even suffocate a shark. That's when
I say, "Buh-bye!" Scientists think
they can use my slime to make clothes.
Have their people call my people."
make slime. Tons of it. It's so strong,
it can clog a predator's gills and
even suffocate a shark. That's when
I say, "Buh-bye!" Scientists think
they can use my slime to make clothes.
Have their people call my people."
In this quote, the hagfish is answering a set of three questions in an information box titled GET TO KNOW ME. The three questions remain the same for each of the creatures described here, due to the remarkable ways they have adapted to protect themselves. Others interviewed by Ms. Silver are the pistol shrimp, electric eels, box jellyfish, pygmy sperm whales, assassin bugs, Texas horned lizards, opossums, camels, horseflies, Japanese honeybees, Fulmar birds, and flying squirrels. Some are familiar, some are not, as happens in all good nonfiction. I was still surprised by the things that scare them and by their answers to the 'get to know me' queries.
Books like these are what I love about sharing excellent information with kids. They provide facts that are often unknown and certainly surprising. I have mentioned in earlier posts that I start reading a book of nonfiction, thinking I will scan it to get the gist of the research shared. Often, I end up reading it front to back, and am always amazed to discover just how much I did not know.
Most of us are scared of something(s). It's intriguing to know that other creatures of land and sea are also scared for a variety of reasons. The book's format first names the creature and its method of avoidance, provides three pertinent points concerning each, and then describes what it does when scared. All this before readers cross the gutter to get to the interview with the following three questions: What scares you? How do you fight back? and Any other cool facts you want to share?
Contextual and earth-toned images allow readers to add to their knowledge through visual learning as well. After the author's encouragement to her readers to find ways to help them deal with what scares them in ways similar to what has just been mentioned, she adds a useful glossary.
There will be 'EWS!!!', but there will also be endless fascination for the research that has been done to bring this book to publication.
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