In the Just like Us! series, Heos makes the case that animals behave like people. Birdsshows that after courting, the mated avian pair builds a nest and looks after its young: feeding them, keeping them safe, and teaching them survival skills. Chicks learn to communicate by copying their parents' songs: first babbling, then imitating with mistakes, and gradually perfecting their tunes. Along the way, Heos also points out how animals are unlike us as well, describing specific behaviors that range from amazing to amusing. The series' horizontal format provides plenty of space for the many illustrations. A typical double-page spread includes two text boxes and several illustrations, which include photos of animals as well as Clark's comical cartoon-style drawings. The juxtaposition works best when the images are separated, letting the photos provide realistic views that support facts in the text, while the colorful line-and-wash artwork creates a light, inviting tone. A witty new series on animal behavior.

Though different from humans in many ways, birds do many things people do. Heos offers young readers and listeners a humorous way to make connections with the world of birds. Birds learn songs through baby talk and create varied sound effects. They try to attract their mates with fancy dancing. They build and decorate comfortable homes. Parents protect, feed, and clean up after their babies. (The intended audience may particularly enjoy the description of penguin crop milk—a regurgitated meal—and the idea that some birds eat their chicks' fecal sacs.) They teach their chicks important skills. Many birds travel long distances. And they're social, even having conversations as human beings do. The specific examples come from a wide range of bird species. They appear to have been chosen for their likely kid appeal rather than to reveal common bird behaviors. Some are behaviors that have only occasionally been observed or been observed only in captivity. This collection of far-fetched facts has been illustrated with a combination of photographs and caricatures of googly-eyed birds, sometimes engaged in human activities. A similar compilation, Just Like Us! Ants, is being published simultaneously. Light entertainment—a laudable attempt to connect the animal world to our human one, but it relies too much on anthropomorphization to make its point. (Informational picture book. 5-8)