Meet My Family!: Animal Babies and Their Families
Description
What kind of families do animal babies have? All different kinds! Charming text and sweet illustrations introduce a wolf pup cared for by the pack, a young orangutan snuggling with its mother high in a tree, a poison dart frog tadpole riding piggyback on its dad, and more. Featuring rhyming verse and informational text, this book lets you discover just how diverse the animal kingdom really is!
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About the Author
Laura Purdie Salas is an award-winning author of more than 125 books for children, including her recent books Snowman - Cold = Puddle: Spring Equations, illustrated by Micha Archer, and Lion of the Sky: Haiku for All Seasons, illustrated by Mercè López. Her books have received such honors as Bank Street College of Education's Best Books for Children, IRA Teachers' Choice, the Minnesota Book Award, and NCTE Notable book. Laura went to kindergarten in Florida and now lives in Minnesota. She hates crowds and knows a good friend makes everything better. Learn more about the author at www.laurasalas.com.
Hiroe Nakata grew up in Japan and moved to the United States when she was sixteen. She is a graduate of the Parsons School of Design. Artwork from her first picture book, Lucky Pennies and Hot Chocolate, was chosen for the prestigious Society of Illustrators Annual Exhibition. Since then, she has illustrated numerous books for children, including her recent titles, Baby's Blessings, written by Lesléa Newman, and One More Hug, written by Inside Edition's national correspondent Megan Alexander. Hiroe vividly remembers her daughter's struggles in kindergarten and is happy to report that, at fourteen, her daughter excels in school and plays in the school band.
Stephanie Fizer Coleman is an illustrator with a penchant for playful color and rich texture. Having grown up in a rural area surrounded by nature, it's no surprise that furry and feathered creatures are her favorite subjects to draw. When she's not drawing, Steph can be found sipping tea and reading books. She lives in West Virginia with her husband and two dogs.
Reviews
"Animal babies from around the world describe their families. This information-packed title not only describes varied family structures and child-rearing practices, it gives the proper names of the children for each of 23 species and, for nine, the word for 'mother' or 'father' rendered in the language appropriate to the animal's home. Appealing digital paintings show animals, usually a parent and offspring, in their usual habitat. Set directly on the image in thin but readable type is the animal child's statement: 'I'm in charge of all my meals' (white rhino calf); 'My dad gives piggybacks' (poison dart frog tadpole); 'I'm a super sister' (meerkat pup). The examples come from around the world; the parental behaviors represent the wide variety seen among humans. Often a spread will show contrasts: beavers live in one place, orangutans 'move around a bunch'; sharks look just like their parents, ladybugs are markedly different as larvae and pupae. For same-sex or adoptive families, the author offers one-of-a-kind or unusual examples: the male chinstrap penguin pair from a New York zoo; a dog named Guddi who adopted a monkey; female albatross parenting pairs in Hawaii. She concludes with a spread of diverse human families of varying and sometimes contrasting colors, ethnicities, and composition. Supported by helpful backmatter including a simple map, this will interest animal-fact lovers and primary classroom teachers alike."--Kirkus Reviews
--Journal"What would it be like to be an animal baby? With just the right dose of information and bright, sweetly imagined full-page scenes, this book introduces children to the fact that family compositions, appearances, life cycles, eating habits, behaviors, and modes of play all vary greatly among living beings. Some animals are given their own spread. Others are paired with another creature, such as the North American River Otter pup and the Green Sea Turtle hatchling, where contrasting characteristics are the uniting feature (in this instance, 'My family frolics in a group'/ 'I'm solo day and night.'). The text often references the language spoken in a given animal's region, with an accompanying glossary in the form of an easy-to-read chart in the back. The sheer splendor of life is subtly woven throughout the text and is also strikingly on display in the final illustration--a lineup of different types of human families. A breezy read to offer groups or for one-on-one lap sharing. In addition to the glossary, there is a listing of every animal included with a world map to aid curious children with finding specific locations. VERDICT A pleasing choice for young nonfiction enthusiasts that belongs on most elementary shelves."--School Library Journal
--Journal"'My parents both take care of me, ' chirps a fluffy tundra swan cygnet. On the opposite page, a raccoon kit curls up with his mom and says, 'I've never met my dad.' In bite-size paragraphs, baby animals discuss their families, often in ways that mimic human families. 'Someone else gave birth to me, ' says a baby rhesus macaque, while a harbor seal's mother works all day hunting for food. Nontraditional families are represented--in a nod to And Tango Makes Three (2005), a chinstrap penguin chick proudly announces, 'Two dads are what I've got!' There's some personification here, but this is less a scientific glance at the animal kingdom and more a celebration of all kinds of families. Many of the animals use non-English words to describe their parents: the South African white rhino grazes with his amai and baba, while the Laysan albatross nests with her two mkuahines, the Hawaiian term for mother. Muted digital illustrations offer a glimpse into a wide range of habitats, while a final spread shows several diverse human families."--Booklist
"In a tender celebration of family, more than 20 baby animals describe the ways the adults in their lives care for them. A baby beaver has lived in one home for all of its life, but an orangutan infant gets a new nest each night: 'I never know where I'll be, but I always know she'll be right beside me.' Coleman shows the animal families interacting in sunny, collage-like digital illustrations, emphasizing different habitats through variations in color and texture. Salas also makes some allusions to nontraditional human families: 'Two dads are what I've got!' says a penguin chick; 'I've never met my dad, ' states a raccoon kit. In a fitting conclusion, a final spread shows groupings of four human families, including single parents, a Muslim family, and two mothers with their children."--Publishers Weekly