A Mammal Is an Animal

Reviewed by: Margy Soule - Coffin Elementary School, Brunswick, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: October 10, 2018

Review

Nonfiction for ages 4-7 can be filled with clear, accurate facts if well organized, explained concisely and accompanied by watercolor illustrations that direct the young eyes to understandable and appealing visual information. This book does just that. In an elegant, deceptively simple looking book, Lizzy Rockwell takes away the clutter of unnecessary facts in both words and pictures. The book includes a repetitive question, "But is a ---- a mammal? No!" In this way characteristics of animals are scientifically narrowed down to mammals. Additional information is presented on end papers with outline drawings of mammals, a carefully colored circle graph identifying the major animal classifications, two pages of clearly written brief summary of mammal facts (for all, most, and some mammals), and reference sources.

Overall Book Score: excellent