All About Manatees

All About...

by Jim Arnosky

This all-new title leads Scholastic Nonfiction's relaunch initiative of Jim Arnosky's beloved All About series. All About Manatees is a thorough and colorful introduction to the world of manatees.

All About Manatees is the newest entry in Jim Arnosky's treasured All About series, relaunching in Spring 2008 from Scholastic Nonfiction. In All About Manatees, Arnosky shows how manatees grow and live, answering kids' biggest questions about these creatures of the water. Packed with intriguing information and brought to life by Arnosky's vibrant watercolors, this book will fascinate young readers.

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Childrens

30 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2008

About the author

Jim Arnosky was born in New York City, NY Sept 1, 1946. He was raised in Pennsylvania. Jim graduated from high school in Philadelphia and joined the US Naval Reserves. His active duty took him to Maryland and Bremerhaven, Germany.

In 1976 Jim and his wife Deanna moved to Vermont with their two daughters where they have lived in an old farmhouse for the past 28 years. 17 of those years were spent raising sheep.

Jim is self taught in writing, art and the natural sciences. He has written and illustrated 86 books on nature subjects and has illustrated 46 other books written by various authors. He has been awarded the Christopher Medal, Orbis Pictus Honor, ALA Gordon Award, and Outstanding Science book awards from National Science Teachers Associations.

Jim loves to fish, boat, and play his guitar. In his work, he uses a Betacam SP video camcorder with a 1600 mm lens to record the wildlife he and Deanna find all across the country.

Reviews

[Abigail]

Jim Arnosky turns to that gentle giant of the coastal seas in this tenth and final entry in his All About... series, intended to highlight different kinds of wildlife for the picture-book set. Part of the Sirenian order of sea mammals, manatees live in the warm coastal waters of the southeastern United States, the Caribbean islands, Central and South America, and West Africa. Only around 2000 of them (at the time of publication, in 2008) are still alive in the wild. The text here discusses their anatomy, their feeding habits and reproductive cycle, and the threat they face, not from any animal predator, but from human activities like boating and fishing...

I love manatees, so I was pleased to see that the final entry in this series was devoted to them! All About Manatees is actually the second title I have read from author/illustrator Arnosky, after his Slow Down for Manatees , that is about these wonderfully gentle "sea cows." I was interested to learn about the dugong, a very similar mammal to the manatee, that is also in the Sirenian order, and lives in the Indian and Pacific oceans. The text here is basic but informative, and the accompanying artwork appealing. My only criticism, and it is one I have made of every title in the series, is that no list of sources or further reading ideas is provided. Leaving that aside, this is one I would recommend to young animal lovers, and to picture-book readers interested in manatees. It would make an excellent introduction to the topic, for younger children.

[✨ Gramy ✨]

This children’s book touched on an enormous animal that has been on the endangered species list for quite some time in Florida. It was easy for the children to understand the message to warn boaters that the fan blades from their boats are very dangerous to the survival of this very calm creature.

[Shannon K]

This is a great informative book about manatees. It has tons of interesting facts about manatees like where they live, what they eat, the dangers they face, and how they are being protected. One thing I did not like about this book was its size. If it was bigger it would be much more user friendly while reading to a group. I really enjoyed the last page which gave information on the author. It was interesting to learn of the author’s credibility and how he and his wife have spent many years observing manatees in the wild.

[Tara]

I'm currently fascinated with Jim Arnoskky and am reading lots of his books. Not quite as beautiful as some others, because of the limited color range, but such a great topic. Loved it.