Strange, Unusual, Gross & Cool Animals

by Charles Ghigna

Animal Planet presents the ickiest, stickiest, blobbiest, and oddest animals in the world!

Did you know that an archerfish can spit water up to 16 feet? Or that the giant weta is the world's largest and heaviest insect? Animal Planet's fascinating exploration of animal oddities introduces young animal lovers to some of the most astonishing, gorgeous, and obscure animals in the world-including some brand new discoveries! Packed with more than 200 vibrant photographs and fun facts about animals with unusual behaviors, strange appearances, and remarkable stats, this deluxe gift book is perfect for reluctant readers or anyone who loves totally gross and amazing animals.

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of books in the Animal Bites series benefits the principal partners of R.O.A.R. (Reach Out. Act. Respond.), Animal Planet's initiative dedicated to improving the lives of animals in our communities and in the wild.

Genres: Animals, Nonfiction, Middle Grade, Picture Books, Science, Nature, Childrens

128 pages, Hardcover

Published October 11, 2016

About the author

Charles Ghigna - Father Goose® lives in a treehouse in the middle of Alabama. He is the author of more than 100 books from Random House, Disney, Scholastic, Simon & Schuster, Time Inc. and other publishers. He has written more than 5,000 poems for children and adults that have appeared in anthologies, newspapers and magazines ranging from The New Yorker and Harper’s to Highlights and Cricket magazines. He served as poet-in-residence and chair of creative writing at the Alabama School of Fine Arts, instructor of creative writing at Samford University, poetry editor of English Journal for the National Council of Teachers of English, and as a nationally syndicated poetry feature writer for Tribune Media Services. He speaks at schools, conferences, libraries, and literary events throughout the U.S. and overseas, and has read his poems at The Library of Congress, The John F. Kennedy Center, American Library in Paris, American School in Paris, and the International Schools of South America. For more information, visit his website at FatherGoose.com

Reviews

[Montzalee Wittmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Animal Planet Strange, Unusual, Gross & Cool Animals by Animal Planet & Charles Gingha is full to the brim with pictures of all types of pictures! This book has everything and then some. There is the bizarre, gross, funny, so ugly it's cute, just adorable, I wish-I-could-do-that, and more animals in this book. The images and the tons of fun trivia everywhere makes the book POP with excitement. Not a dull page anywhere. Newly discovered animals, ancient animals, little known animals, animals of the sea, insects even. The gross to the cute. It is all here, if it is strange or cool, you will find it in this book, up close and in your face! Loved it. Thanks NetGalley for suggesting this book! Another great book from the Animal Planet!

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have you ever seen a vampire squid? Did you know that the proboscis monkeys are born with blue faces? Would you like to take a close look at a water dragon's eye? This book contains a huge amount of interesting things to read and learn about a wide range of animals. It is diveded in four parts, Strange, Unusual, Gross and Cool, although many animals are all these things at the same time! And the pictures are wonderful and abundant.

I found this book surprisingly absorbing. It is all a curious kid would enjoy. The facts are punctual and concrete. The text accessible for the age range. To make the content more clear some animals are joined according to one feature, like "Venomous Creatures" or "Newly Discovered Cratures", while some other are portrayed individually for a deeper view, as in chapter such as "Thorny Dragon" or "Blue-footed booby". And again, the photography is amazing. A strange, unusual, gross and cool addition for the non fiction shelf!

I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Find more children's book reviews in Reviews in Chalk

[J. d'Merricksson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Animal Planet’s Strange, Unusual, Gross, and Cool Animals by Charles Gingha is nifty collection of some of the wildest critters on our wonderful, wonderful planet. I read this book with my cublings, and we all learned tons of new and fascinating facts. The girls and I loved the little poems at the beginning of each section. The boys, not as much. Haha, except my little poet.

There are myriad pictures to engage young eyes (and adult ones too!). They stole my tablet and read it again with das/uncles, especially to share the dragonish creatures and scorpions/spiders. Jonas keeps scorpions and Drake and Charley love dragons.

Some fun facts inside...

*The Darwin's frog- male holds the baby tadpoles in its vocal sac til they become froglets.

*The kakapo- the heaviest parrot. It does not fly, but is a skilled climber with strong feet. It uses its stubby wings for gliding from tree tops.

*The 2016 discovery of a beautiful jelly in the Mariana Trench.

*The lion-mane jelly has a bell 8 ft in diameter and tentacles up to 100 ft long.

[Dena McMurdie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why are weird animals so interesting? My kids love this book. They’be been reading it together ever since we got it. They keep trying to read it at night until I notice their light is on and make them go to sleep.

This book is full of some seriously strange animals. You might recognize a few of them, but everything in it is unusual, weird, or gross in some way. My kids love learning about the different animals that exist in the world and telling me all about it.

Personally, I love books like this because it gives my kids something to bond over, learn from, and enjoy. I have a dedicated nonfiction section on their bookshelf and it is the most used section. This book fits in nicely with the rest of their collection.

If your kids like to learn about animals, or if they like gross or weird animals, then Strange Unusual Gross and Cool Animals is a great book to have on your shelf. It has big, bright pictures and lots of facts about the animals.

Content: clean

Source: Blue Slip Media

Batch of Books

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kids are going to Love this book. What kid doesn't want to know about weird, gross and unusual animals. Filled with great photos of each creature and fun facts about each of them. This book can be used for a book report or just for fun reading. While a child will enjoy the grossness and weirdness, they will be learning cool facts too. Well done!

[Carol Baldwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charles Ghigna, the Father Goose of children's books and no stranger to this blog, has done it again. But this time, it's not a clever book in rhyme for the youngest readers. Strange, Unusual, Gross, and Cool Animals (Animal Planet, 2016) will appeal to kids of all ages who want to get up close and personal to some very weird animals.

The animals are divided the way the title predicts: Strange, unusual, gross, and cool. Within each section there are four types of pages: a gallery spread which shows animals that live in different parts of the world but have adapted to their environment in similar ways; a featured creature that highlights one phenomenal animal through details about its life, stats, and maps; a creature collection which compares and contrasts a large group of animals; and macroview pages which show tiny details of very small animals.

Charles Ghigna gave me a "behind-the-scenes" look at the book's creation. After he agreed to write this book in nine months, he realized it would be a book that was, "Full of facts. No fanciful word play. No imaginative nonsense rhymes for toddlers. My tranquil treehouse would become the center of the universal pursuit of the biggest, baddest, best creatures on the planet. No more loose and loony alliteration. This was serious business."

Enter Strange, Unusual, Gross and Cool Animals--an accessible, factual, humorous book that will make every young reader want to learn more about the animal kingdom--even if she's scared of snakes and spiders like me. And guess what? Ghigna couldn't resist including a rhyme or two.

STRANGE
Strange how we as humans
view creatures great and small--
for we who see their strangeness
are the strangest of them all!

How strange is the star-nosed mole? Pretty strange. "It's nose is covered in 22 sensitive appendages that are so good at detecting vibrations they can tell when earthquakes are coming...It can even smell underwater by blowing bubbles it then breathes in through its nose." (p. 10)


UNSUSUAL
Unusual is what we call
The weird, the fast, the rare.

We classify each creature--

But do they really care?



The thorny dragon looks like it comes from prehistoric times. Besides having a camouflaged body covered in hard, sharp spikes and two horns--it also has a false head growing on its shoulders! The sharp spines make it difficult for a predator to swallow. Besides, as Ghigna points out, "Who would want to eat a thorny, two-headed , puffed-up dragon?"

GROSS
Gross is used instead of yuck
for words like poop and pus,
but all these animals agree--
it's only gross to us!


From my experience with kids, many are delightfully intrigued by gross stuff. From finding out that honey is really regurgitated nectar and millipedes can secrete yucky liquid that burns other bugs, discovering parrotfish who poop out sand, reading about a Goliath bird-eating spider that can be up to five inches long and when threatened, has a hiss that can be heard 15 feet away--readers looking for gross animals will find it in these pages.

COOL

Cool is how we think we look
when we try to impress,
but animals are born that way-
with lots of cool finesse!

Because of its translucent skin on its belly, "you can see through the glass frog and see its liver, heart, and intestines without an X-ray machine, just like Superman can!" (p. 108) Some see-through creatures include glasswing butterflies, the pelagic octopus, and the big skate that looks like a slimy ghost! Other cool animals glow in the dark, sport blue feet (blue-footed booby) or climb walls like Spider Man (mwanza flat-headed rock agama).

A book to leaf through or read from cover to cover, young readers will enjoy discovering new animals just as much as Ghigna did: "The Blobfish first caught my eye. Icky pink and bulbous looking. Voted the “World’s Ugliest Animal,” I knew that one would become a hit with the 8-12 year old crowd. Who could resist the Rosy Wolfsnail, the fastest snail on earth? Who just happens to be a cannibal from Hawaii. And who just happens to inhabit my home state of Alabama and throughout the Southeast. Or the Fangtooth Fish whose teeth are so large it can never close its mouth?"

Ghigna told me, "I am glad I could be a part of this irresistible collection of amazing creatures whose lives will be explored by an endless parade of curious kids who might even put down their iPhones to ponder these scary, stunning pictures of exotic animals from around the world taken by some of the world’s top photographers."

GIVEAWAY
In mid-July Joyce Hostetter and I will publish our summer issue of Talking Story on "The Great Outdoors." Since all of these animals can be classified as existing somewhere in that category, I'm going to give away this tremendous classroom resource through Talking Story. Leave me a comment here (with your email address if you are new to my blog) and I'll enter your name once. Follow the directions to enter the Talking Story giveaway (and if you don't know about this quarterly newsletter for teachers and librarians here is a link to the spring issue. You can subscribe through the link) and your name goes in twice. Winner will be drawn on July 21.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

This. This is an amazing slick book. And you might think you know about all the cool, and poisonous, and weird creatures out there, but I found creatures I had never heard of, and I like things like this to begin with.

Kids, which this is aimed at, will eat this up and ask for more. Adults will like it to. It even has categories, such as "cool creatures" and see-through creatures and weird eyes, and they are weird eyes to be sure.

This book is 129 pages, but it packs a lot into this. Now granted, this is all superficial stuff, but it is not meant to be great research. It is meant to introduce kids and adults to the world that is out there, of weird and wonderful creatures. And say, if a kid does want to know more about chameleons, then this might be where they discovered them, and then they can get more, deeper books, to find out more.

In other words, this book is an intro drug, to get kids interested in biology, and who knows where it will take them from there.

Highly recommend this to schools, libraries, and home libraries.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

[Kate Puleo Unger · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is broken into 4 parts - strange, unusual, gross, and cool animals. Each section features about 30 pages of animals with interesting facts about them. Did you know that when koalas are first weened off of their mother's milk, they eat a modified form of feces? Pretty gross, right? Were you aware that some frogs have star-shaped pupils? Pretty cool, huh?

This oversized book features stunning photographs of the animals being discussed. Each animal has a sentence or a paragraph describing it, so it will definitely get kids interested and asking more questions. This book is perfect for children ages 5-10 who are interested in exploring the more unique animals living on our planet. The end of the book features a dictionary and glossary to aid in learning.

http://www.momsradius.com/2016/11/kid...

[Colleen Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is great for really any age in elementary school, from pre-K through 4th grade. It gives all kinds of interesting facts about animals. To begin each section, there is a short poem about the animals. Photos accompany the facts of the focus animal. I think the little-known facts about creatures that children are already familiar with. The obscurity of these pieces of information is very silly, which is fun and appealing for young children. While being funny, students are distracted from the learning at hand. This make a great addition to a classroom library by providing fun material to look at during down time; students feel a sense of accomplishment and confidence in knowing something new that not many others know. It could also be used as a classroom management tool to provide a routine structure during transition and down time in which there is not a sufficient interval in which to instruct a new lesson; the teacher would read a few points as a reward for an orderly transition to the next activity as a short and amusing break for students to let go of their built up energy from the previous lesson.

[Michael Doane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strange, Unusual, Gross & Cool Animals by Charles Ghigna is a wildly entertaining exploration of some of the most remarkable, bizarre, and little-known creatures on Earth. With more than 200 vibrant photographs and fun facts, the book introduces young readers to astonishing animal behaviors, extraordinary adaptations, and even some newly discovered species.

What sets this book apart is its combination of education and engagement. Ghigna presents fascinating science in a playful, approachable manner that encourages curiosity and wonder. From the water-spitting archerfish to the massive giant weta, each entry sparks excitement while expanding understanding of the natural world. The book also emphasizes empathy for animals and stewardship, linking enjoyment with awareness through its partnership with R.O.A.R.

Strange, Unusual, Gross & Cool Animals is perfect for middle grade readers, reluctant readers, and animal enthusiasts of any age. It makes learning fun, inspiring a lifelong fascination with the diversity and ingenuity of life on Earth.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

With gorgeous, intricately-detailed, breath-taking photography and fun facts, this book mesmerized both my son and myself. It's teeming with interesting snippets about hundreds of animals from the land, sea and air.
For instance, have you ever heard of a fish that can't swim?
What about the most unusual animal? The aardvark has ears like a rabbit's, feet like a duck's, claws like a bear, a tail like a kangaroo's, and a tongue like an anteater's. Yet it does not belong to any of these species.
There's sections on see-through creatures, creatures with cool finesse, those that are almost extinct, and much more.
This book is fascinating from the start to the finish. We thought we'd pick it up and look at a few pages before bed and ended up enjoying the whole book!
It holds appeal to the young, the old and everyone in between who finds delight in this world's animals.
My son and I give it 5 thumbs up!

[Brenda Kahn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is absolutely gorgeous and crammed full of trivia about loads of animals, many I have never heard of and I've read my share of animal books over the years with four boys. Oversized, stunning close-up full-color shots - this is a volume to pore over. It might not be terribly useful for report writing but for report inspiration. The layout is kind of random, jumping from sea to land animals and all over the place. There was no sense of scale either, though many descriptions included phrases like, "as big as your thumb." Backmatter includes an extensive glossary and places to visit in person or on the web, but no books save for two other Animal Planet volumes.

[Sandy Brehl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-suited for any age, with an abundance of OMG and WOW critters that offer brief descriptive text and uses occasional poems as organizers for various animal categories and collections. The back matter includes simple accessible resources to learn more, provides a functional glossary that blends scientific terms with familiar language. The index is extensive, and the photo credits deserve some discussion among young readers to realize that professional photography is not the same as selfies and offers viable career options. Published by Animal Planet, it will be no surprise that the book present a visual feast. Don't rush kids through the photos... that's what this is all about!

[alexander shay · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is meant for kids so the facts and information included aren't that sophisticated. But some of them are quite interesting, for example a sloth moves so slow algae can grow on its fur. There are some animals that take up the whole page, others that take up only a little in a photo-spread. Great quality photos, and the strange animals section was my favorite. Unusual and cool were disappointing, and most of the gross were indeed disgusting (mostly bugs but some birds and animals that smell like dung, etc).

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a gallery of animal pictures and facts, with giant pages and different formats varying from a focus on a single animal to a gallery of animals sharing some feature. There's no real through line, though. It would be good for small kids to page through on their own, or as a book to read with an animal lover who is too young for much words but can enjoy the pictures.

[Odessa Vantilborgh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for all animal lovers, kids would love this book at my library! Great photos and facts.

recieved arc through netgalley for review.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Does what it says on the tin, in glorious (and sometimes icky) Technicolor!

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting collection of unique creatures.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative and my 6 year old daughter even enjoyed it.

[Max · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this during a car ride home from thanksgiving because my 7 year old niece left it in the car - I actually really enjoyed it! Nature is so cool man.

[Chris Butler · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I liked it because I liked the bird with the huge belly. I liked the snake that ate the big egg.” Josephine (age 4)

[Donna Maguire · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was brilliant, I loved the layout, the fun facts, excellent photography and I learnt a lot from it. There are some excellent books out there by Animal Planet and this is definitely one of the best I have read - who doesn't want to read about strange, unusual, gross and cool animals. Very highly recommended and wouldn't hesitate to give 5 stars.

[Sharon Tyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Animal Planet Strange, Unusual, Gross & Cool Animals is a children's non fiction book by Animal Plant and Charles Gingham. It is part of the Animal Bites series. This book offers information paired with full color photos of some of the oddest animals in the world! For instance, did you know that an archerfish can spit water up to 16 feet? Or that the giant weta is the world's largest and heaviest insect? This exploration of animal oddities introduces young animal lovers to some of the most astonishing and obscure animals in the world-including some brand new discoveries! There are more than 200 vibrant photographs and fun facts about animals with unusual behaviors, strange appearances, and remarkable stats.

Animal Planet Strange, Unusual, Gross & Cool Animals is not new in the idea, but executes it very well. I have read more than my fair share of books about the wacky, weird, and gross animals of the world. My daughter is an animal nut, and my son loves anything vaguely gross or monster like. So this book is right up their alley, and we have explored every similar book available to us, and this book holds up very well to the competition. There are a number of bright, bold photographs on each page along with interesting facts to correspond to each animal included. The texts combines humor and fact very well, capturing the attention of readers of all ages. I think reluctant readers will be put at ease with the large print and the way the text is grouped into small sections. this makes the flow of information easy to understand and from being intimidating. while I have seen many of these animals and corresponding facts before, there was so much here that i found new information and creatures to learn about as well. This is a must buy for library, school, and some home collections (like mine).

I need this book for my kids, who love animals and all things weird. Honestly, I think I will order it now and save it for a Christmas gift. This book is perfect for reluctant readers or anyone who loves totally gross and amazing animals. As a bonus, a portion of the proceeds from the sale of books in the Animal Bites series benefits the principal partners of R.O.A.R. (Reach Out. Act. Respond.), Animal Planet's initiative dedicated to improving the lives of animals in our communities and in the wild.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Animal Planet and Time Inc. Books have produced a collection of cool (not to mention, strange, unusual, and gross) animal facts sure to delight any kid.

There are more than 200 photographs in this book that is divided into four different focuses: “Galleries” to explore a theme, “Featured Creature” to spotlight particular extraordinary animals, “Creature Collections” with groups of animals to compare and contrast, and “Macroview,” showing tiny details.

The featured animals are just amazing, and include the blobfish, the deep sea octopod, the ghost octopus (just discovered in 2016!), the red-lipped batfish, banded gila monster, and as you can tell by the names, a host of unusual creatures. To me, the most incredible animals are those hiding way below us in the ocean, but the book also includes animals we might hope to see on land (or in some cases, hope not to see….)

I especially love the theme galleries. They include “Fabulous Feet,” “Vanishing Creatures,” “Squirters and Spitters,” “See-Through Creatures,” and my favorite, “Glow-in-the-Dark Creatures.”

On all of these pages, you learn astounding facts about what makes these animals so unusual.

The book includes a glossary, annotated links to find out more, and an index.

I really appreciate that a portion of the proceeds from the sale of books benefits the principal partners of R.O.A.R. (Reach Out. Act. Respond) - Animal Planet’s project to help make the world a better place for animals.

Evaluation: This overview of a fascinating topic is sure to inspire kids to seek out further information. The books from Animal Planet (as well as their television series) prove that learning can be fun.

[Stacie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Third graders were BEGGING me to read from this book last time I subbed in their classroom. This is a book every kid will be fascinated with.

Animal Planet has brought the strangest and most interesting animals to life in this book to show kids how vast the creatures of our planet really are. From Betic Midwife Toad to the Rhombic Egg Eater to the Christmas Frigatebird to the Hickory Horned Devil, I learned about all kinds of animals I never heard of nor do I want to ever see in person.

The photography, of course, is amazing and there is just enough information to teach kids about where they live and why they are either strange, unusual, gross or cool. With some creatures, it gives quite a bit of information and others, like the Jumping Spider, just gives a little tidbit. If you could see the photo, I guarantee it would give you the creeps?

The book is laid out in sections based on the title. When I subbed in third grade, I used reading from this book as a behavior incentive by giving them a few strange animals while waiting to go to lunch. The kids were fascinated and couldn't wait to have me read more. Later in the day after they had worked hard on their assignments, I chose a child to pick a category and then read a random creature from that section. It was a little bit of science and geography wrapped together talking about the creature and discussing where they lived. The kids loved seeing the photos most of all.

This is a great book for any child, but especially those who love science. I'm sure I could use this as an incentive in any elementary classroom. Our own high-school-aged kids even had fun looking through it.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Animal Planet: Strange, Unusual, Gross & Cool Animals by Animal Planet & Charles Gingham has a wide range of interesting things to read and learn about of animals. The book is divided in four parts, Strange, Unusual, Gross, and Cool. The book has wonderful and abundant pictures.

There are more than 200 photographs in this book that is divided into four different focuses: “Galleries” to explore a theme, “Featured Creature” to spotlight particular extraordinary animals, “Creature Collections” with groups of animals to compare and contrast, and “Macroview,” showing tiny details.

The featured animals are just amazing, and include the blobfish, the deep sea octopod, the ghost octopus, the red-lipped batfish, banded gila monster, and as you can tell by the names, a host of unusual creatures. On all of these pages, you learn astounding facts about what makes these animals so unusual.

The book includes a glossary, annotated links to find out more, and an index. I really appreciate that a portion of the proceeds from the sale of books benefits the principal partners of R.O.A.R. (Reach Out. Act. Respond) - Animal Planet’s project to help make the world a better place for animals.

I highly recommend this book for animal aficionados, both child and adult. It is a book that allows readers to learn about animals and spark interest to continue learning.

I received this book from Time Inc. Books and Animal Planet via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[K.L. Bernard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Our world is full of strange, wonderful, creepy and even gross looking creatures. Many of them can be found in this amazing guide. There are 4 categories featuring Strange Animals, Gross Animals, Unusual Animals and Cool Animals. There are tabs that have a Gallery which explores animals from around the world but have adapted to their environments. The Featured Creature section introduces readers to specific animals with detailed descriptions of its life, stat boxes and maps. The Creature Collection shows a comparison and contrast of some selected animals. The Macroview pages share tiny details of very small animals.

Photos and descriptions show the red Vampire Squid, a Tonkin Bug-Eyed frog that looks like a green mossy rock. The Jumping Spider is yellow and its prickly hairs are icky. The Hoatzin bird has a long neck, small head and smells like cow manure. The Blue-Ringed octopus is small enough to fit in your hand but 1 milligram of its venom can kill. Animal lovers of all kinds will definitely find a favorite bird, animal, insect or fish on these pages. The amazing photography puts these critters in the spotlight. Short bursts of information share fun facts making this a quick read.

[Janet Squires · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blobfish, Star-nosed Mole, Vampire Squid, Thorny Dragon, Ghost Octopus! Yes, these are just a few of the remarkable animals you’ll find in Animal Planet’s Strange, Unusual, Gross & Cool Animals by Charles Ghigna.

Ghigna does an outstanding job of putting fun in the “ICK” factor and sharing startling facts with readers in this spectacular collection. Playing off the title, the book is divided into four main sections with subheadings that focus on individual animals as well as related traits such as Creatures of the Deep - Mimics - Marvelous Mammals - Fabulous Feet - Squirters and Spitters - Blobby, Slimy, Stretchy Creatures - and Fantastic Frogs – to name a few. Information is well-organized and accessible thanks to elements such as the Gallery spreads that explore specific themes, Feature Creature which provides details about individual animals, the Creature Collection which gives readers opportunities to compare and contrast, and Macrophotographs to highlight the smallest details.

Stunning color photographs fill every page in this large format, 128 page book, with the exception of the Glossary, Index, and Additional Reading.

Maps and charts offer additional perspectives on the information for animal lovers and budding scientific minds.

[Rachel Noel · Rating 3 out of 5]

*Free book for an honest review.

The format reminded me of the magazines I used to read in waiting rooms, but with much better pictures. This book would be a delight to read with your kids or to give to a kid who wonders what's so great about science. Gross animals are so interesting and easily capture the imagination. The funniest part, for me, was looking at some animals and thinking "so that's where Pokemon got the idea" and I've never been a Pokemon fan.

If you're looking for a book to entertain your kids and you're okay with kinda large pictures of kinda large arachnids, bugs, creatures from the depths of the oceans, etc. I think you'll enjoy this book. It's a great way to introduce young readers to creatures than excite imaginations. To show them that strangeness, grossness, and coolness and be completely natural occurrences, and completely subjective to human standards. It's also a good book to introduce kids to the concepts of conservation. Many animals in this book are on, or close to being on, the endangered species list.

[Kid Lit Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since the blurb above tells you so much about what you can expect, let me tell you about a few things I found impressive. For starters, the photographs. The colors are amazing and the details, especially up close, are nothing short of amazing. (That was redundant, but still amazingly true.) The two spreads in this review don’t show how colorful, bright, and intimately detailed the photographs can be for some animals.

If there is any indication Animal Planet’s Strange, Unusual, Gross, and Cool Animals will grab an assortment of readers it is the beginning of each section; Ghigna chose to begin each with a poem. His poems are hilarious and should put any reader in the mood for what follows: page after page of odd, unusual, gross, and downright cool animals. I love when poetry is included in non-poetry books, if for no other reason . . .

Originally reviewed on Kid Lit Reviews. To read the FULL review, and interiior spreads (photographs), go to: http://bit.ly/AnimalPlanetStrangeANDG...