Talk, Talk, Squawk!: A Human's Guide to Animal Communication
Talk, Talk, Squawk!: A Human's Guide to Animal Communication
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Perma-Bound Edition ©2015--
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Candlewick Press
Just the Series: Animal Science   

Series and Publisher: Animal Science   

Annotation: Explores ways in which animals communicate with each other using colors, patterns, smells, movements, vibrations, sounds, and electricity for a variety of messages.
Genre: [Biology]
 
Reviews: 6
Catalog Number: #109511
Format: Perma-Bound Edition
Special Formats: Inventory Sale Inventory Sale
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Copyright Date: 2015
Edition Date: 2015 Release Date: 08/25/15
Illustrator: Layton, Neal,
Pages: 61 pages
ISBN: Publisher: 0-7636-7974-7 Perma-Bound: 0-605-90729-3
ISBN 13: Publisher: 978-0-7636-7974-3 Perma-Bound: 978-0-605-90729-4
Dewey: 591.59
LCCN: 2010040794
Dimensions: 16 x 24 cm.
Language: English
Reviews:
ALA Booklist

From the writer and illustrator of What's Eating You? (2007) and Just the Right Size (2009), this book looks at animal communication. Explaining that animals need to communicate in order to feed themselves, find shelter, mark their territory, and care for their young, Davies gives plenty of examples and sometimes relates them to human behavior. In addition to communication by sound, the discussion includes signals sent by sight, smell, vibration through earth and water, electric current, body movements, and hand signs. Clearly written, the accessible, informal text features terms such as the "Yuck! Don't eat me' signal," a click made by poisonous tiger moths to warn off bats, their potential predators. The light tone of the text is amplified in the colorful and often-comical illustrations, ink drawings with color, texture, and other elements added digitally. A glossary is appended. An appealing addition to science collections.

Horn Book

Davies presents the ways in which animals communicate through the use of color and pattern recognition, smells, sounds, and chemical exchanges; she also discusses how humans are researching all this. Her friendly tone makes the complex ideas remarkably clear and understandable, and Laytons cartoon illustrations, complete with humorous communications from the anthropomorphized creatures, neatly underscore the important scientific messages.

Kirkus Reviews

Having explored poop and parasites, survival techniques and size, Davies and Layton turn to animal communication, describing how animals send and receive messages by sound, sight, smell and touch, for a variety of purposes. A "hand"-standing panda on the title page sets the cheerful tone of this informal introduction. The author has chosen both familiar and unusual examples, often connecting the animal behavior to children's experiences in ways that almost cross the line into anthropomorphization. Fish coloration is likened to school uniforms; the superb lyrebird performs his mating song and dance on a "stage" of his own making; great bustards "look like large white balloons" as they announce "I am gorgeous." That panda-gymnast is trying to "send an extra signal--'The panda who left this message is very BIG indeed.' " Cartoonlike illustrations, almost doodles, done in ink and colored digitally, add humor to every page, even in the backmatter. They often include speech balloons demonstrating the animals' messages. (The endpapers feature animal sounds in the front, "translated" in the back.) Like other books in this series (most recently, Just the Right Size, 2009), the compact trim size, mostly one-topic-per-spread organization and tongue-in-cheek illustrations will appeal to child readers. Something to crow about. (index, glossary) (Nonfiction. 8-12)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

With their trademark inquisitive wit, Davies and Layton turn to animal communication in this companion to Just the Right Size; What-s Eating You?; and other irreverent guides to the animal kingdom. While much of the material is tongue-in-cheek (baboons exchange shouts of -Wassup, cuz!- and -Hi, bro!-) Davies includes plenty of factual information. Readers will learn how animals use smell, sound, electricity, and even dramatic performance to communicate-for example, a male stinkbug taps on a leaf to create vibrations that notify a female of his presence. Animal lovers should relish the surprising insights into languages we-re just beginning to understand. Ages 8-up. (Nov.)

School Library Journal

Gr 3-6 This creative team adds to its cheeky series with this volume devoted to animal communication. Through an upbeat, conversational narrative, Davies introduces youngsters to key methods of communication (such as uniforms, smells, sounds, songs, and body language), important messages ("one of us," "danger," "keep out," "I am gorgeous," "Where are you?," etc.), why communication is important, and examples from a wide variety of animal species. In organizing her material, Davies uses headings that range from the straightforward "Long-Distance Calls" and "Where's My Baby?" to some less intuitive choices like "Simply Divine" and "Happy Families." As a result, the volume might not function quite as well as a quick reference, but the engaging prose and Layton's comical cartoons provide enough interest to tempt students and browsers into a closer reading. Layton's liberally anthropomorphized and scribbled out cartoons, which convey an active imagination and silly sense of humor, set the tone and play off the more interesting examples in the narrative. A glossary clarifies scientific terms that aren't defined in the text, and an index lists the animals and some types of signals mentioned. More detailed and lighthearted than Steve Jenkins's Slap, Squeak and Scatter (Houghton, 2001), Talk, Talk, Squawk! is entertaining and worthwhile. Jayne Damron, Farmington Community Library, MI

Reviewing Agencies: - Find Other Reviewed Titles
ALA Booklist
Horn Book
Kirkus Reviews
Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)
School Library Journal
Wilson's Children's Catalog
Word Count: 5,738
Reading Level: 6.1
Interest Level: 3-6
Accelerated Reader: reading level: 6.1 / points: 1.0 / quiz: 147845 / grade: Lower Grades
Reading Counts!: reading level:9.6 / points:6.0 / quiz:Q56085
Lexile: NC1140L
Guided Reading Level: S
Fountas & Pinnell: S

“This creative team adds to its cheeky series with this volume devoted to animal communication. . . . Entertaining and worthwhile.” School Library Journal

How does a stinkbug flirt, a bee give orders, or a panda say “back off"? Animals find all sorts of ways to keep in touch without saying a word. They use colors, patterns, smells, movements, vibrations, sounds, and even electricity to communicate. From the chatter of dolphins to the click of a moth, from the stripes of a reef fish to the rumbling of elephants, this funny, fascinating book unlocks the mysteries of how animals talk and squawk to one another—and how humans try to talk back. Back matter includes an index and a glossary.


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