MENUS FOR MEERKATS

What’s for dinner?

The writer of numerous DK anthologies about the natural world, Hoare knows how to grab readers. Here, he uses the concept of food and feeding habits to introduce 10 animal species and some useful labels, including herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores. The book opens with a short introduction pointing out that animals have to eat and usually have preferences and needs—if not literal menus. Hoare covers species from around the world: meerkats, scarlet macaws, grizzly bears, great white sharks, koalas, dung beetles, orangutans, Indian cobras, blue whales, and lions. Two vibrant spreads, adorned with eye-catching borders, are devoted to each animal; a spread labeled the “Menu” is separated into “Main Course,” “Sides,” and “Drinks,” with a tiny globe showing where the species lives. A spread labeled “Dinner With the…” adds noteworthy facts, including length and weight. The backgrounds are full of colorful illustrations of the animals and their menu items. Most creatures in Skipp’s child-friendly artwork are smiling, even the musk ox being attacked by a lioness. The introduction and the glossary are paired with imagined scenes of animals that, in real life, don’t live together.

Animal facts engagingly presented for middle-grade audiences.