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If My Mom Were a Platypus: Mammal Babies And Their Mothers
Explores the birth, maternal relationship, and growth of such mammals as African elephants, Pacific gray whales, hooded seals, polar bears, orangutans, and humans.
64 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2001
25 people want to read
About the author
Dia L. Michels
50 books1 followerFast Facts about Dia L. Michels:
Known As: President of Science, Naturally! and Platypus Media and the author of a dozen books
Expertise in: Parenting, Literacy, Science Education, and Early Childhood Development
An internationally-published science and health writer, Dia L. Michels has written for People, Parents, Parenting, and Public Radio, International. Prior to founding and writing for Platypus Media, she wrote the award-winning Milk, Money & Madness: The Culture and Politics of Breastfeeding and the best-selling A Woman's Guide to Yeast Infections.
Michels is a popular speaker, lecturing frequently at conferences, universities, libraries, and schools around the country. She lives in Washington, DC, with her husband, a physicist with NASA, their three children, and three cats.
Known As: President of Science, Naturally! and Platypus Media and the author of a dozen books
Expertise in: Parenting, Literacy, Science Education, and Early Childhood Development
An internationally-published science and health writer, Dia L. Michels has written for People, Parents, Parenting, and Public Radio, International. Prior to founding and writing for Platypus Media, she wrote the award-winning Milk, Money & Madness: The Culture and Politics of Breastfeeding and the best-selling A Woman's Guide to Yeast Infections.
Michels is a popular speaker, lecturing frequently at conferences, universities, libraries, and schools around the country. She lives in Washington, DC, with her husband, a physicist with NASA, their three children, and three cats.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 24, 2019
Mammal babies need their mothers! This book teaches us about fourteen mammal babies and how their mothers care for them. First, we learn what they were like when they were born. The Least shrew is “the size of an almond and weighs next to nothing” when it is born. The Pacific gray whale is the size of a station wagon when it is born. I haven’t seen a real station wagon before, but I saw a picture of it and it is very big. We also learn what the mammal babies eat. Polar bears eat seal meat, and it takes two years for them to learn to catch seals on their own.
My favorite part of the book is the fascinating facts. That is where we learn strange things about each mammal baby. I learned what color a polar bear’s hair really is, how orangutans protect themselves from the rain, and if elephants leave footprints. I think kids ages 6 – 10 will like this book because the pages have colorful pictures of the animals and lots of facts. And there’s even a chapter on human babies like you and me!
Reviewed by Cyril L., 7, Metropolitan Washington Mensa
My favorite part of the book is the fascinating facts. That is where we learn strange things about each mammal baby. I learned what color a polar bear’s hair really is, how orangutans protect themselves from the rain, and if elephants leave footprints. I think kids ages 6 – 10 will like this book because the pages have colorful pictures of the animals and lots of facts. And there’s even a chapter on human babies like you and me!
Reviewed by Cyril L., 7, Metropolitan Washington Mensa
June 13, 2017
Read this aloud to the boys (3 and 5 years old)- about half of the information on each page. It was a bit old for them, but they enjoyed what I chose to read. Very interesting, full of information. The last baby is a human baby- they assume that the baby was born at a birthing center with a midwife. Easy to alter if you're reading aloud, though.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews